After The End
by C.C. Red
Summary: Ten years ago, the animal population mutated, endangering human life on the planet. The team managed to cure the animals, but at a terrible cost. In an attempt to return the planet to the animals, a secretive group called The Shepherds released a gas that sterilized all of humanity. And then, lab-made creatures Called hybrids Devastated the West Coast.
1. Portland Oregon

A few months after the wedding, Abe and Dariela moved to Michigan with Isaac. A few years later Max Morgan decided that he wanted custody of his granddaughter and since the group was not related to her by blood we had not stand in court, so Clementine went to live with Max. I remember getting the phone call from Jamie telling me that Max had contacted her about custody and she was pissed. Jackson and I stayed in Africa continuing our work with the animals, partially lions, Abe came down every now and then to help, but it caused tension in his marriage, partially after it came out that Dariela had an affair. But after Jamie published a book about the team's adventures Jackson and I had to move to the west coast, since Robert was gone people needed someone to blame and they picked Jackson.

When Jackson and I moved out west, we began helping move displaced families to safe zones. The U.S. government had created a mass wall keeping the hybrids who had made it to land, on the west coast. Jackson felt so guilty about everything, even though none of it was his fault. Things got so bad before we moved, that when we left we had to change our names and go into hiding. We can only have one-way communication with Abe, which makes our lives even harder since we can't get updates on our family.

Jackson and I are out on patrol, moving families to the nearby safe zone, we'd been moving for days but we are only about thirty minutes away from home. Jackson runs through the clearing under an underpass, to check for Hybrids, we always have issues with them up here. Before long he comes over the walkie, "We're good. Send them."

"Roger, sending the Penguins to the igloo," I reply over the walkie.

"Penguins? Really?"

"Just trying to keep it spicy, babe."

"You know, I'm pretty sure that penguins don't live in igloos."

"Wrong, I've seen it."

"Where's that, now, at a zoo?'" Jackson turns to me when I get a few steps behind him.

"Maybe." I smile at Jackson.

As we walk in front of the group a kid, probably around 12 walks up between us. "Hey, we're almost there, little man. Are you excited?"

"I want to go home." The boy complains.

"Yeah, I hear that, but, uh, I'm afraid that's not an option right now, okay? But we're gonna find you and your family a new home. Somewhere safe, somewhere beyond the barrier."

I nod, "You know, Michigan, Tennessee, who knows? Maybe even all the way to New York, huh?"

As we continue forward we hear growling coming up from behind the group. A man shouts, "They're back!"

Jackson turns, "Whoa, whoa!" He holds up the device he uses to control the lions, that admits a high-pitched ringing. Jackson and I walk to the back on the group, "Pedro, Sampson, where'd you guys run off to?"

I hear something rattle off to my left and turn to see Hybrids coming our way, I nudge Jackson, trying not to scare the group, "Hybrids."

Jackson nods and motions toward the hybrids "Attack." The lions attack the hybrids and Jackson and I turn to the group, of course, once they see the hybrids they all run, as they should. "Hurry up! Keep running! Come on! Come on!"

"Everybody move." As the group runs, Jackson and I follow, trailing them, making sure no one gets left behind. The lions had saved us on hundreds of occasions.

We keep running until we get to the final stretch, about 60 feet from the gates. Jackson and I are still walking about 10 feet behind the group. "You sure you're okay?" Jackson had been asking me since we stopped running.

"Yeah, for the 34th time, I'm fine. Thanks to your clickity-click machine. I've lost track of how many times your lions have saved our heinies."

"Yeah, so have I."

As Jackson and I chuckle we hear a loud, guttural snarl and thudding footsteps when we turn we see what looks like a rhino with armor on it. "What is that?" I step closer to Jackson.

Jackson shakes his head, "I have no idea."

"You don't happen to have any more lions in your back pocket, do you?"

Jackson shakes his head, "I want you to get them out of here to the safe zone as fast as possible, okay?"

I look up at him confused, "What are you gonna do?"

Jackson leans in and kisses me, "I'm gonna catch him."

I sigh and kiss Jackson again, "I love you, " I run up to the group, "Let's move people, come on!" The group starts to run to the gates.

I hear Jackson shouting at the rhino, "Hey! Hey there, buddy." The rhino growls and I can hear the sound of its feet on the pavement. Before long I hear Jackson over the Walkie, "C gate do you copy?"

One of the guards answer, "Go for "C" gate"

"I need a salvage truck backed up to the gate, doors open I'm inbound with company!" Jackson shouts over the walkie.

"Say again?"

"Salvage truck, back gate, doors open!"

"You inbound with friendlies?"

"No, unfriendly. Very unfriendly."

The group and I get to the gate, "Everybody inside."

Some of the other guides rush out with guns and they open the side gate, "Back up the truck."

I wave people into the main gate, "Go, go, go!" I look over the direction we came and see Jackson with the rhino hot on his trail. "Everyone inside." Once we're in the gate we shut it.

One of the shooters on the roof come over the walkie, "I've got a clean shot."

I hear Jackson over the walkie, "Shut the gate! Do not shoot. I repeat, do not shoot."

Once we hear the rhino inside the truck we rush out, closing the door and locking him inside. I rush over to the front of the truck and open the passenger side door, to see Jackson, laying against the dashboard on his back, "Spicy enough for you?" Jackson smirks at me and I shake my head.

"You know not exactly what I had in mind, no."

When we get back to the back Jackson grabs a large syringe and gets into the back on the truck with the Rhino to get a sample, he does, very quickly and then gets back out.

I shake my head as Jackson and I walk away from the truck, "Call me crazy, but I think the line about kicking the hornet's nest also applies to stabbing an angry prehistoric-looking monster."

Jackson nods, "For years, all anyone has seen are Razorbacks, and that is not a Razorback."

I scoff, "You don't say."

"Nine years ago, the IADG said it would be impossible for them to migrate to the United States. Now, the West Coast is overrun and now this." Jackson starts to prepare the sample to send it to Abe, via a drone.

I lean against his shoulder, "You know, you're pretty cute when you get fired up."

"They're spreading way too fast. And if we don't find a way to stop them the entire world is gonna wind up looking like Portland."

"And the IADG is sending an investigator. Why don't you ask them what they're doing to stop the hybrids? That is if you want to spend our whole night off talking to the fuzz."

Jackson punches in the coordinates into the drone and nods, before looking to me, stepping close and pulling me in, "You're right. They're the experts. We'll let them handle it. Them and Dr. Abraham Kenyatta."

I smile up at Jackson, wrapping my arms around his neck, as he places his hands on my ass, and I whisper, "That's what I'm talking about." as Jackson pulls me in for a kiss. As the drone takes off we look up and watch it, before heading to the relief center to check on everyone. Jackson went over to the kid we had been talking to earlier, while I check on some of the women in our group. Once we are done there we head back to our humble abode.

Jackson sighs, "We were out for ten days with that group. I'm gonna sleep for eight straight hours."

Look over to Jackson and smile over at him, "Would you settle for six?"

"I could be convinced to settle for six."

I giggle and step closer to him, kissing him as we stop. I look over to a woman in a very nice coat, "Who's with the fancy coat?"

Jackson shrugs, "Is that the IADG investigator? She got here fast."

"She's leaving even faster."

Jackson calls out to her, "Hey! Excuse me, miss?" She and Jackson both stop and look at each other oddly. Soon she gets in her truck and drives away.

I look up at Jackson confused. But before I can ask anything there is an explosion behind us, that sends Jackson and me forward and down on to the pavement. As debris falls around us Jackson and I look over to each other and reach out, as if to make sure the other is still there. As we look back, where the explosion came from we can hear people screaming.


	2. Siblings

Jackson and I had rushed to the explosion to help the survivors, but the results were not promising. Jackson doesn't even speak until we get back to our place.

"Damn it." Jackson sighs, "96 people dead, 100 wounded. How could I let this happen?"

I shake my head, "Jackson, this was not your fault."

"we need to find that woman."

I sigh, "We've alerted the other safe zones."

Jackson shakes his head, "Yeah, well, what if it's not about the safe zones? She bombed us the same day that we found the new hybrid. That can't be a coincidence."

I give Jackson a confused look, "What are you saying, she targeted the hybrid?"

"I don't know exactly, but there was this look in her eye. We have to find her."

"I'll grab some extra ammo. For all we know, she's over the mountains by now." I nod and sigh.

Jackson nods, "Good idea, who knows who or what we'll run into?"

I sigh softly, "So much for a peaceful night in."

Jackson walks up to be and hugs me from behind, sitting his head on my shoulder, "I know, it's been a while since we've had a real night off."

I turn to him and place my forehead against his, "It's okay. This is more important."

Jackson nods, taking a deep breath before moving away from me and taking his bulky coat off. I do the same. Taking a deep breath, before I start getting ready to head out tomorrow. Jackson heads over to the small computer we have set up in the room. Ever since we had to change our names he has kept a close eye on any updates related to the name Jackson Oz.

I walks over to him and look over his shoulder, "Do you think people will blame you… well, the old you for this?"

"no, no, no. I'm, um,"

I place my hand on Jackson's cheek, " Carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders again? You act like all of this is your fault. The spread of the the razorbacks. The TX sterility. But it wasn't. It was your crazy father was the bastard who started this all, but you can't solve all the world's problem. The Shepard hunters still think they are looking for Jackson Oz, Jamie change our identities to the last detail, even the photos that comes up when they google you." I take a deep breath as I pull up a photo of 'Jackson Oz' on the computer, before turning back to Jackson and place my arms one Jackson's shoulders, "You, Dylan Green, are a wonderful, caring, passionate man. You have saved hundreds, if not thousands, of lives out here. And that's enough. Do you believe me?"

Jackson looks around before he nods, "Yeah."

I shake my head, "You are a terrible liar Mr. Green."

He smiles down to me, "After more then 9 years, you'd be able to see through that, wouldn't you Mrs. Liz"

I giggle softly and nod, before sigh softly, "Let's go find your our lady."

Jackson I get our puffy coats and gear back on before we head out in search of the bomber. We don't walk more than five miles away from the safe zone before we come across a truck, "That's her truck." Jackson step in front of me as we walk toward the truck, sighing when we find it's empty, "She's gone."

I sigh, "Well, see if she left anything behind that might tell us where she went." Jackson and I look through the truck, but don't find anything, "Nothing…" I sigh. But Jackson decides to look under the truck to see if she had dropped anything and finds what looks like a large contact case, with an odd S on it with to dots on either side of it, "What is that?"

"I have no idea."

Jackson and I look over the box for a minute of two before heading back to the safe zone. Jackson isn't happy that we came back to the safe zone, but we couldn't track her since there was a brief rainstorm before we left.

I sigh as we walk into our place, having heard Jackson complain the whole way home, "We did everything we could to find her, Dylan."

I takes a deep and starts to get an attitude, "Okay, I don't even know how we're supposed to sleep with her still out there."

"Well, we live in hybrid country, beyond the barrier. We've seen our fair share of god-awful, horrible things. We've helped hundreds of families find their way to safety, so I sleep fine at night…" I take a breath and try to retain my sass, "especially knowing you're in bed beside me."

Jackson smiles softly and steps over to me, giving me a kiss. Our kiss is broken when we hear a knock at the door. I sigh as Jackson walks away to answer it, but I hear him and who is on the other side greeting each other, "Logan."

"t's a nice place you got here... Dylan." Logan looks around Jackson to me, "... Elizabeth."

I smile and wave to him, "Logan."

Jackson clears his throat, "Come on in."

Logan steps in as I take a deep breath, "Can I get you some water, maybe a beer, that's about all we have."

Logan nods, "please."

I look over to Jackson, "What about you, babe?"

"A beer please."

I nod and head over to the small fridge, getting three beers out. When I head back and given the boys their drinks, Jackson and I look over Logan rather confused, "How are you a cop?"

"It's been years… Elizabeth. A lot can change."

Jackson steps forward, "If you so much as breathe a word but us to anyone, I swear I will…"

Logan puts his hands up, "Easy, easy, easy. If you want to call yourselves Dylan and Elizabeth, and play heroes in the badlands, be my guest, okay? I'm not here to change that."

Jackson sighs, "Look, I want what you want."

"To find the person who bombed my precinct and your camp."

I sigh, "The woman you're looking for is mid to late 30's. Brown hair, dark skin, about five-seven."

"You've seen her?"

"Just for a second."

Jackson nods, "We tracked her and found her truck, but it was a dead end." He grabs the box off the table, "She left this behind."

Logan takes the box and looks it over, "Have you found anything else with this symbol on it?"

"No," Jackson and I shake our heads.

"I'm gonna need to see where you found this. If we leave right now…"

Jackson cuts him off, "There is no "we," Detective, okay? So if you don't mind, I have people back at camp that need my help."

Jackson walks away leaving me and Logan, "Look, I don't know what the we're deal with, but it sounds complicated, but after nine years of marriage I can say that, Ja… Dylan, is the most uncomplicated guy I know."

Jackson and I head out, back to the main area of the safe zone to help the survivors of the blast. We spent what little time off we had, looking for the hybrid lady. As we help a man on to the back of a truck one of the women walk up and hands Jackson a phone, "Someone's calling for you."

Jackson takes the phone, "This is Dylan. Who is this?" Jackson's face goes white and we starts to walk away from me. Since I am helping a patient, I can't really go after him. When I glance up to Jackson he drops the phone from his ear to his side and looks around, I can tell that nothing but rage is running through him. Jackson storms off to back to the house and as soon as I can I run back as well. When I walk in Jackson is talking to Logan, who hadn't left.

"That bitch called me."

"Who called you?"

"The bomber."

"What did she say?"

"Well, she knew my name. Our names." Jackson gestures over to the door, seeing me. "She was taunting me. Like it was personal."

Logan takes a deep breath, "Because it is. I I.D.'ed the bomber with, uh, with DNA off of that disc that you guys found. Her name is Abigail Westbrook. This is her genetic profile." Logan shows Jackson something on his tablet. I can't see what they're looking at but I can hear them. "When I got the preliminary results, I just assumed you must've somehow contaminated the sample. So I had my tech run the tests again, but the results… the exact same."

I step forward, "What are you saying?"

Logan looks back over to me, "Jackson and this Abigail Westbrook share multiple genetic markers. That's why I thought it was contaminated, but it wasn't. Jackson, Abigail Westbrook is your sister."

Jackson looks back to me shocked and confused. I shake my head and take the tablet from Logan looking over it myself. Sure enough, Logan was right, Abigail and Jackson are siblings.


	3. New Hybrids

Even though we know that this Abigail and Jackson are siblings, we still have no way to track her down. But Jackson wanted to make sure that she hadn't attacked any other cities or safe zones, so he brought up on of the news stations. I had been looking over Logan's test results for about 15 minutes, at this point I know that there is no chance they're wrong, but I keep hoping that someone missed something.

As I finally give up and set the tablet down I hear the news anchor switch from story to story, "Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan, where the Federal government authorized Reiden Global to quarantine children under 12. Reiden Global CEO Leanne Ducovny defended the action, comparing it to this country's own history of a military draft as a civic duty. In other news, investigators have linked a deadly explosion at an NYPD precinct to a similar tragedy at a refugee camp in Portland. Authorities are searching for this woman, Abigail Westbrook, a person of interest in the investigation."

Jackson sighs, "Who also happens to be my sister."

Logan shrugs, "Wanted on 23 counts, from impersonating a federal agent to using weapons of mass destruction. Twice."

"Any luck tracing that phone call she made?" I look over to Logan.

Logan shakes his head, "No, she's very good at covering her tracks."

"Do we know anything else? Like how she's connected to the hybrids?"

"You two can ask Abigail yourselves when we arrest her."

"Any idea where she is? 'Cause I'm not sure about asking her questions, but I need to hit something. Preferably one Abigail Westbrook."

"I plastered her photo at airports, train stations and the border. Chopper's on standby. You guys know this area better than anybody, so, the moment that we do get a hit on her, I'm hoping that you'll come with."

I sigh, but before I can protest I look over to Jackson, who looks as though he's seen a ghost, "Jackson, you okay?"

Jackson takes a breath and looks over to me, "Yeah. Just tired."

I smile softly over to him and nod, "Yeah."

I sigh as I head over to the bedroom, hopefully we will get a little sleep before we do anything else. But I really don't want anything to do with Reiden or Robert Oz's work ever again. Before too long I fall asleep, before Jackson comes in. When he does he wakes me slightly, but I'm too tired to comment. But he doesn't lay down, instead he sits on the edge of the bed. I don't wake up again until Jackson's phone goes off. When it does he leaves the room before answering it. When I walk out into the main room and over to Logan and Jackson.

"What's going on? Do we have a lead on Abigail?"

"Change of plans. We need to find a hybrid first." Jackson and I quickly grab what we need and head out with Logan. Once we hit the road, Logan and Jackson start talking.

"I recalibrated the GPS to track the frequency Abe gave me."

Logan nods and clicks away on his tablet, "I've got an IADG surveillance satellite here. What am I looking for?"

Jackson sighs, "Thermal imaging. All right, as far as I can tell, this hybrid is part rhinoceros, part Pleistocene woolly mammoth."

"As in, part prehistoric?"

I nod, "mh-mm, as in woolly rhino."

"It's like that saber-toothed cat, huh?"

Jackson shrugs, "If they're anything like regular rhinos, they'll sleep under thick brush. So let's start there."

I take a deep breath, "Never knew something so big could be a needle in a haystack."

After we drive for a little while longer and start up a hill Jackson chuckles, "Looks like we found our needle."

When the truck comes to a stop at the top of the hill in what looks like it was once a wildness trail parking lot, Logan sighs, "I'm not seeing any heat signatures."

"Maybe it's cold-blooded. If it's asleep, it'd have roughly the same temperature as the ground. It should be right in front of us."

As we look around all we can hear in the GPS beeping. Before long the ground starts to shake and we hear a rumbling noise, I look over to Jackson, "Earthquake?"

We begin to look around again, but we still don't see anything. Until the ground in front of the truck opens up. When it does a very large, dirt covered vulture comes out of the ground and sharks.

Jackson reaches over and places a hand on my shoulder, "That's not a woolly rhino."

I shake my head and look on in shock and horror at the creature in front of us. The vulture opens its wings and throws rocks and mud as it takes off. Logan, grabs one of the rifles in the back seat with him and jumps out of the truck, "I got this."

Logan fires a few dozen rounds at the creature but it does nothing more then piss it off. "Get back in the truck!" Jackson shouts.

I look back to Logan as he gets in the truck, "What's next? Insult its mother?"

"Go! Go! Go! Go!" As Jackson repeats the 'order' over and over again, I quickly try get us out of there and away from that thing. As I back the car up and turn the vulture swoops at us, barely missing, "That was close."

Just as Jackson makes that comment the vulture comes back and flips the car onto its side, breaking the windows as it does. Once the truck is on its side the vulture grabs the truck and begins dragging us towards the cliff face. "Hold onto something!" Jackson shouts.

I scoff, "Hold onto what? Truck is going over the edge of the cliff." The bird continues to squeak as the metal of the truck scraps along the rocks. "Jackson?!"

"Guys!" Logan calls out when we look back we notice that the back window isn't broken and Logan has crawled back to it. With a few swings with a large flashlight, he breaks it and the three of us rush out of the truck. Just in time to see the truck dragged over the cliff by the vulture. Sure that it had taken care of us, the vulture moves on.

I turn to Jackson and the two of us run to each other, being about a two yards apart since Jackson jumped out about 30 seconds after I did. I gasp as I look up to him, nothing but adrenaline running through my veins. We make our way back to the safe zone on foot and once we're back the boys jump to work.

"Since we already had its IADG satellite in position, I used it to track the hybrid's flight path. How's your Spanish?"

I shake my head, "it flew to Mexico? Why?"

Jackson walks over to Logan, "Can you pull up past imagery?"

"Yeah, why? What are you looking for?"

"Just focus in right there. Keep going back in. A little further back. Okay, right there, stop. Can you push in on that?"

I walk over to see what the two are talking about, "That's Abigail."

Jackson shakes his head, "In the last decade, all we have seen is razorback hybrids. Now two new species pop up in the span of 48 hours? Something's happening, and Abigail is at the center of it."

"I'm gonna prep the chopper."

Jackson nods, "We'll get ready to head out."

I look over to Jackson, as Logan leaves the room , "Jackson, we need to talk."

He stops and turns to me, "What about?"

I take a deep breath, "I don't think we should go and help Logan find Abigail." Jackson starts to speak, but I put a hand up, "The last time we got involved with Robert Oz and the Shepherds, we lost Chloe and Mitch and… _and_ …" I look down as I start to get emotional.

As I do Jackson walks up to me, "I know what we lost last time, but this could be our chance to that back."

I shake my head and look up to Jackson, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Abe thinks that the new Hybrid is the key to solving human sterility, and because of his research Reiden took Isaac and dozens of other children."

"They what?!"

"We have to get to Abe and Dariela, to help them get Isaac back and we can fix what happened, because of my Father and I."

I shake my head, "you didn't help your father. You tried to stop him."

"But nobody wants to believe that, okay? Especially the Shepherd hunters, who nearly caught and killed us numerous times, until we came west, changed our names. But through all of that, everything over the past nine years, You haven't just make me forget about my past, you made me see a future. A future with you. But I need you with me when we head down to Mexico to find Abigail and those hybrids. I know, I couldn't stop my father, but maybe I can stop her. And I need you. I need you with me. I can't do this without you. Okay? I I need you."

I take a deep breath and nod, as my eyes feel with tear, from a mix of Jackson being the sweet amazing man he is, to thinking about what we lost the last time we got involved with Robert Oz and what we will lose if we don't again. "Okay. Okay, I'll go with you. But if this works, I want a whole liter of babies."

Jackson smiles and nods, before pulling me into a hug, "Of course, I thought that was the plan to begin with."

Jackson and grab the things we need and meet Logan at the chopper. Once on board we start our flight to Yucatan, Mexico. Since it's a long plane ride Jackson looks over to me and starts asking me different questions. "So, what are you thinking for baby names?"

I sigh, "You know, I'm trying not to get my hopes up."

"Oh, come on. Humor me."

I scoff and shake my head, "Chloe or Elizabeth for a little girl… and Mitch for a little boy."

Jackson nods,"I think those are great ideas and I'm sure that we will get out chance to have them. In the somewhat near future."


	4. Beacon

Once we get to Yucatan Mexico, we don't waste any time getting where we need to be. We follow the flight path of the vulture and end up at a small cabin. Jackson looks over the cabin with the GSP we had used to find the vulture, "The hybrids aren't here"

I sigh, "Abigail might be."

"Okay, move in."

I nod and look over to Logan and we separate. Logan goes around the back, I take the side, and Jackson takes the front. When I get inside I see a man standing by the window. As I approach the man I realize who it is, "Mitch?"

As I call out to him he turns to me, "Kat?"

"You're alive?"

"Uh, yeah."

I step forward and give him a hug, as I do I hear Jackson, "How are you here right now?"

Mitch separates from me and hugs Jackson, "I don't know. I mean, I-I know this place, but I've never been here before, and now you're here, and…" Mitch looks over and sees 's Logan come in the same way Jackson did, "Okay, and you."

I turn as I hear the door open and see Jamie and Clementine walk in. "Jamie? Clementine?"

Jamie and Clem look to me, surprised, "Kat?"

Jamie looks over to see Jackson, "Jackson?"

Logan shakes his head, "Clementine?"

Clem shifts her head, "Logan."

Jamie sighs, "Well, this is more than a little weird."

Logan nods, "How are you all here?"

"What is that time?" Clem points over to a device in the corner of the room.

Jackson walks over to it, "This disc, this is the exact same one that the woman we're hunting left behind in Portland." As he turns to us his phone goes off, "Hello?... Listen to me, I want you to understand something, I am going to find you and I'm gonna stop you. Do you get that?" A few moments later Jackson hangs up the phone and the box begins to whir and beep.

Clem looks around to us, "And that thing just started moving."

The whirring get loud enough we have to cover our ears and shout for the others to hear us. Jackson looks to us, "Hey! We gotta get out of here!"

Jamie looks out the window, "guys."

Jackson and I look out the window and sees more of the vulture hybrids coming. Abigail's bringing the hybrids here to our location."

As the hybrids approach us they drill

Jamie looks over to me, then Jackson, "And then what?

We all look out the windows of the cabin at the vulture hybrids nose-diving into the ground. As we do Mitch runs over to the box, "This must be what's drawing the hybrids." but when Mitch touches it shocks him, "ah!" he pulls his hands back and shakes them. "I'm just gonna assume there's no "off" switch."

As we look over to Mitch the ground begins to shake, Clem looks from Jamie to me, "That can't be good."

Jamie turns back to the window, "Is anyone else freaked out by the fact that they're flying?"

I sigh as Jackson and I point our guns out the window again, "That's not all they do."

"How about let's go?" Mitch comments.

As I turn to Jamie and Clem, they begin to move away from the window. But not too long before a hybrid comes through the window. Thankfully, it can't fit through the small window frame and gets stuck. As I pass in front one of the windows I am knocked to the ground. When I look up to the window, I see a hybrid sticking its ugly head through the window. I crawl away as quickly as I can and look back to see Jackson and Logan caught between the two hybrids.

"Jackson!"

"Katherine, Go!"

I scrabble to my feet and run out of the cabin. As I do I hear gunshots from behind me, along with the hybrids roaring and screeching, and Jackson shouting, "Let's go! Come on!"

When I catch up to Clem, Jamie, and Mitch they are on the front porch. As I stop behind them, I feel something grab my shoulder. I turn back to punch whatever it is, but as I swing Jackson catches my fist, chuckling as he does. "Hold on, fisty, it's just me."

I sigh in relief and shake my head as Jackson, Logan, and I move to the front of the group, trying to time our exist. Once we see an opening Jackson runs out, "Come on, let's go!"

Drafting off the porch we still see the dirt flying from the hybrids drilling into the ground. Mitch runs up between Jackson and I. "So, what brings you guys south of the border?"

Jackson and I glance over to him, "We're tracking a woman who bombed our refugee camp in Portland."

"But more importantly, where the hell you been?" I chuckle as I glance at Mitch again.

"Hibernated in a healing tank. Rescued by a fake daughter. Shot real daughter. Found an evil Shepherd device inside my skull. Brain surgery with a farm animal. Freaky new memories brought me here." As Mitch goes through his list we stop next to a tree.

"Really? That's it?" Jackson looks up to Mitch chuckling.

I sigh, "And for us, that's a Tuesday."

We take off again, the hybrids still crashing and squawking around us. As we run toward the copper the ground opens like a sinkhole under it. Logan shakes his head, as we stare on at the sinking plane, "Sarge is not gonna be happy."

Jamie speaks out in a calm voice, "Plan B. Let's get to the truck."

We turn and run towards the truck Clem, Jamie, and Mitch brought here to the sound of hybrids screeching and crashing. Once we are there we pile into the truck. Being six of us in a five-person truck, it was a tight squeeze. But nothing we weren't use to. To try and save room I sit on Jackson's lap in the back with Mitch and Logan side us and Clem and Jamie in the front.

Once we are all on the plane we hope out. Jackson is all too happy to be on the plane, after fighting off flying hybrids, "Home sweet plane."

As Clem hopes out she comments on the odd noise the truck had been making, "That doesn't sound right." She kneels down and looks under the truck, "That's not good. She's gonna need some serious TLC if she's gonna be road worthy any time soon"

I walk around the front of the truck and see a hybrid in the grill, "Looks like we snagged a passenger."

Jackson walks up and looks at the thing, "I think that'll be the easiest thing we'll ever catch."

As I chuckle Jamie comes over to us, "we're wheels up in five."

Jackson nods, "I guess you can shove a cockpit into a tablet when you've made a fortune off of people's pain." As Jackson comments, I hit his arm.

Jamie sighs, "Look, I know it's cool to hate me right now, but I really am sorry."

"Just save it," Jackson shakes his head. "Right now we need to figure out what those hybrids are doing."

Before we can do anything the ground begins to shake and we hear what sounds like an explosion. As we run to the open cargo bay door we see the volcano erupting, "That might be our answer." Mitch comments in his sassy tone I have missed so much over the past 10 years.

"Uh, you might want to speed up that takeoff time." I look over to Jamie.

Once we are in the air we make our way through the lab, "Which insane thing should we start with? The new hybrid species or exploding volcanoes?" Jackson sighs.

"Do we know that the new hybrids caused the volcano to explode?" Jamie asks.

"I seem to remember a sloth that could make earthquakes happen. That ringing a bell with anybody?" Mitch comments.

"Well, this is who we are looking for." I bring up a photo of Abigail on the computer screen. "Her name is Abigail Westbrook and so far, tracking her down has been, uh…"

Jamie nods her head, "I recognize her. She's a Shepherd."

Jackson clears his throat, "Alright, now, she used this disc to operate the device back in the cabin." Jackson takes out the disc we found back in Portland.

Mitch nods, "Yeah, whatever that device was, it was attracting the hybrids to its location like a, uh like a… a…" Mitch loses his words and can't think of what he wants to say.

"Like a beacon?" I comment softly. My sister had MS and before I left I spent most of my time with her, so I understand the not being able to find your words.

"Yeah, that."

"Yeah, so more than one disc means more than one beacon." Jackson nods, "The more beacons that she activates, the more the hybrids will spread."

"But no one's ever seen a flying hybrid." Jamie sighs, "Where are they spreading from?"

Mitch clears his throat, "I have a feeling that the answer to that question is gonna be real weird."

I sigh, "because that's how things work around us."

"So this is the previous hybrid population density on the West Coast." Jackson pulls up the system we used back at camp to help figure out our best paths, "Here's what happened after she activated that beacon." When Jackson changes the photo it goes from a few red areas to the west coast being covered with red. "Fortunately, inside the hybrid zone. Abe said that these things can reproduce asexually from a single drop of blood, which means exponential growth once they get to a new area. Now that we have flying hybrids, this is what would happen if she got a beacon east of the barrier." As Jackson changes the screen the whole U.S. turns red. "And this is what it would look like if she got a beacon all the way to Europe." the screens keep changing and everything turns red.

"So, how long till Hybri-geddon?" Clem looks over to Jackson.

"Based on these calculations 90 days."

I sigh and shake my head. Clem and Logan leave the room, Logan to sleep and Clem to go do something else, that she was very vague about. But she's 23 I don't think I'd be very upfront with my parental figures about every either.

Jackson, Jamie, Mitch, and I head into the kitchen and Mitch grabs a water from the fridge, "So, been dying to ask you guys, how was my funeral?"

Jackson shrugs and looks between Jamie and me, "Very tasteful."

"What song did you guys pick? Wind Beneath My Wings?"

Jamie chuckles, "Who Let the Dogs Out."

Mitch nods and chuckles, I shake my head and laugh softly as Jackson shakes his head, "Yeah, that was the last time we were all together. After you were gone, things just, um weren't the same."

"So you two decided to move to the middle of hybrid country?"

I sigh, "Well, a couple years later, a regular life just wasn't really an option for us, so…"

"Well, that can happen if you're the son of the guy who created worldwide sterility and his wife. Congrats by the way"

Jackson nods, "Yeah, circumstances were, um I had to get away."

I take a deep breath, "Plus, people out there need help."

"You know? Someone's got to clean up that Shepherd mess. May as well be us."

Mitch shrugs, "Well, at least now you won't have to play bumbling-but-effective heroes on your own."

Mitch walks out of the kitchen and Jackson and I begin to, but Jamie stops us. "Wait, Jackson, Kat. Please, I... I'm so sorry."

Jackson nods, "So am I."

"Can I explain?"

"We have to figure out what's going on with the new hybrids and we have to find Abigail."

Jackson walks out of the kitchen and up to the room we had stayed in all those years ago. Putting our stuff away. As we do I sigh, "Jackson, you know Jamie didn't mean for things to turn out the way they did."

Jackson sighs, "But they did… and because of that you and I didn't get to see Isaac grow up. We didn't get to adopt, we were forced to stay away from our family."

"Jackson... " I shake my head, "Jamie couldn't have predicted people would shift the blame from your father and the shepherds to you, and she has done everything she could to help us." Before Jackson and response, we hear a knock on the door. "Come in."

Mitch pokes his head in, "Hey. Kat you up for some bonding over the body of a vulture hybrid."

I chuckle, "Always."


	5. Family Reunion

Jackson, Mitch, and I had started our examination on the vulture hybrid. As we do Mitch is understandably confused. "Alright so how did you and Jackson become masters of animal anatomy."

I chuckle. "We aren't masters, that title is left to you."

Jackson nods, "But, you've been gone for ten years. Thing change, people grow, and learn."

"Alright, so I have another question." Mitch sighs, "Who the hell did these things cause a volcano to erupt?"

I shrug my shoulders, "Biology of this hybrid is nuts. Look at the size of that ear canal."

Mitch looks over my shoulder, "It's incredibly similar to Marsupialia that use echolocation."

As Mitch comments Jackson looks up a little surprised, "Jackson, what is it?" I glance up to him.

"Abe was onto something with that unique hybrid frequency. They're using it to communicate."

Mitch clears his throat. "So if we can reverse engineer the frequency, maybe we can find one of those beacons, track down Abigail, right?"

"Stop Abigail, we stop the hybrid spread." I nod and look from Mitch to Abe.

Mitch nods and looks back over his shoulder, "that thing is really cool. Um Abe is a sex doctor? Which is gross enough, but why-why is he studying hybrids?"

I chuckle softly, "He's not a sex doctor, he's a reproductive endocrinologist. He thinks that hybrids are the key to solving the world's sterility."

"Yeah, there's a lot going on. And seeing as I've had to learn the biology of an entirely new species on the fly my obvious time away from current technology… Oh, and the fact that Abigail could strike at any moment, I feel like it might be a good time to bring…"

Jackson nods and smiles, cutting Mitch off, "That's a lot of words to say that you need Abe's help."

Mitch nods and comments quietly, "I'm gonna need a little grace period. I'm post-tank Mitch. Let's go to Michigan, find a sex doctor."

I laugh softly as Mitch walks away. When he does I look down at the hybrid and cringe, "yuck!"

Jackson looks up to me a little confused, "What I thought you liked birds."

"Yeah, normal little ones, not weird, volcano erupting vultures."

"Oh yeah, the tattoo you got on our honeymoon isn't of a vulture is it?" Jackson walks over to me and pulls the left shoulder of my sweater down, revealing the small outline of a dove I had gotten while we were in Bora Bora on our honeymoon. Leaning down and kissing it softly once it is visible. "No, you got the bird of love, didn't you?"

I nod as he brings his face closer to mine, "Yes, I did. Because in the end that's all we have. Love for each other and love for our family." Jackson nods slightly, I can't really tell if he's listening to me anymore or not, as he leans in kissing me softly. Once he pulls away I smile, "I'm gonna go grab a drink with Jamie," Jackson rolls his eyes, "and you should get some rest," I comment and chuckle as he does.

Jackson nods and heads up to the bedroom, while I head up the stairs to the bar. When I get a few feet from the door I hear Jamie and Clem talking.

"A little bit stressed?" Clem asks as she sits down.

"Yeah, not all family reunions are pleasant." Jamie comments. I decide to just listen and not enter the room.

"Are you talking about what happened with Jackson earlier? What's that all about?"

"It's a long story."

"Try me."

"Okay." Jamie sighs. "Five years ago Jackson and Kat went into hiding."

"That's not that big."

"Well, they didn't go because they wanted to. When my book was published, I gave everyone pseudonyms to protect them. And it worked for everyone but Jackson and Kat. Didn't matter that my book said Jackson was innocent, he's the son of Robert Oz and she's still his wife. And the Shepherd hunters wanted blood."

"Okay. So that is sort of big. But wait, don't you work for the Shepherd hunters?"

"I work with them, when it serves me."

Before long the plane lands and I meet Jackson in the cargo bay. When the hummer Dariela and Abe are driving pulls up the two of us can't get down there fast enough.

"Dareila!"

"Kat!"

"It's been to long."

Dariela and I shout to each other as I jog down the ramp to her, giving her a huge hug when I get to her. I hear Jackson and Abe behind us.

"Abe!"

"Rafiki!"

As Dareila and I separate, the boys have as well and we swipe to hug the other. Jackson gives Dariela a hug and I give Abe a hug. When Jackson and I take a step back Dariela opens the back down and out jumps a long haired red dog.

"Who's this?" I ask bending down and petting the dog.

"Pizza." Dariela smiles as we walk back into the cargo bay.

"How is Isaac?" Jackson looks over to Abe, "That hybrid sample that you needed, Abe, I wasn't able to track another one down."

I chuckle, "Jackson let them answer one thing before you move on to something else."

Abe chuckles, "It's okay. And the Isaac situation is being handled."

I look up to Abe, "Abe, if Isaac needs any help, you know that we will do whatever it takes."

Dariela sighs, "It's complicated."

Abe nods, "I'll fill you in later, I promise. Just stay with me on this one."

Dariela looks over to me and smiles, before she walks to my side and loops her arm through mine, "We'll let you two catch up. Come on, Pizza." As we turn and walk back into the plane Pizza barks. Once we are inside Dariela looks over to me, "It's not safe for you two to be on his side of the barrier."

I nod, "We had to."

"Why would you two leave that protection? You two had a life there."

I shake my head, "I don't know if you can count running from hybrids a life. Plus we couldn't fight this war from the hybrid zone forever."

Dariela nods, "Yeah, you're right."

As she comments Jackson and Abe come into the plane as well. "let's get the band back together, huh?" Jackson takes my hand as we walk into the lab, with Dariela, Abe, and Pizza behind us.

When we get there Mitch and Clem are there to greet them. Dariela walks up to Mitch and hugs him, "Ah There he is. Our very own Mr. Spock. Like in part two when he dies, and then part three…"

Mitch nods, "Yeah, I-I get the reference. You know, when I found out that you let Max raise my kid, I almost went back into the grave…"

Abe chuckles and walks over, hugging Mitch, "Even a pack of wild razorbacks couldn't keep you down. What did you do, fight them off with your bare hands?"

"No, but I like that version better."

As Abe steps back and smiles Logan comes around the corner. "Dr. Kenyatta."

"Detective."Abe looks over to Logan confused.

"Dariela." Logan smiles.

I hear Jamie call out from behind me, "Hi, guys. It's great to see you."

Abe looks over to Jamie, even more shocked then when we saw Logan. "Jamie." No one will admit it, other than Jackson, but on some level we all blame Jamie for Jackson and I going into hiding.

Clem looks up to Abe, "I-I'm sorry I kind of ditched you guys the other day."

"Ditched? That would be one way of putting it." Abe looks down at her.

"I couldn't risk your lives. You have a son. I saw the news about Reiden taking the kids. Is Isaac?"

"He's safe. He's with his Aunt Isabel in the Upper Peninsula."

"Great." Mitch comments, trying to defuse the tension in the room.

Once everyone separates Clem heads out to the cargo bay. Before long Dariela and I head out to check on her, finding her working on one of the cars. When we kneel down to talk to her, she points to the bag, "Hey, can you toss me that 'lectro wrench?"

"Didn't realize you were into cars." Dariela comments as I pass Clem the tool.

"Guilty as charged. Total gearhead. Angry, sad, lonely. Whatever I was feeling growing up, cars were always there. Always the same. I guess, I guess they helped me make sense of things. And given the current state of the world, I could use a little bit of that right now."

"Couldn't we all?" I comment.

Dariela nods, "So what's it like being back with your dead dad?"

"Weird. What's it like being one of the last mothers on Earth?"

"Weird," Dariela comments, "What's it like being with the most wanted man in the world?"

"Weird," I sigh and we all chuckle.

"It's been a tough couple years since we all saw each other. I know you two haven't had an easy go, either."

Clem shrugs, "That's true, but but everybody's different. You never know how you're gonna react in a tough situation until you're in it, you know?"

I nod, "She's right. We all have our regrets. Done things we're not proud of. We all have our secrets."

"All my regrets are behind me." Clem comments.

Dariela leans back against one of the cars, "Well, sometimes our regrets catch up to us."


	6. The Man in the Basement

When I get back to the lab, Abe, Jackson, and Mitch have begun examining the vulture once again. Now taking time to open the bird up even more and looking over its muscle and organs. As they do, Mitch looks over the animal rather puzzled by what he's seeing.

"This guy has supracoracoideus muscles that look just like the ones in hummingbirds."

I step over to Jackson as I look at the monitor of the magnified muscles. "That makes sense, for flight."

"Yeah, but look. He's got an entire extra set." Mitch pulls back one layer of muscle to reveal another that looks exactly the same. "Now, these things expand and contract at super high speeds, but they're totally unnecessary for the way this guy flies."

Abe shakes his head, "Wait a minute, you said these new hybrids were diving under the ground in Mexico, correct?" Abe looks around to Jackson, Mitch, and myself, who all nod. "Well, what if they used these new muscles underground, en masse?"

Mitch glances around as he shakes his head, "If there were enough of them, uh compound vibrations could potentially cause massive acoustic fluidization, which would trigger volcanic eruptions Which did trigger a volcanic eruption."

I nod and sigh, "And Abigail can summon them at will." I take a deep breath and look down at Jackson.

Jackson nods and sucks in his lips before we hear one of the alarms beep. As it goes off Abe checks the screen, "We found a beacon. It's moving."

I nod and walk over next to Abe, Jackson following behind, "She must be transporting it."

"Abigail's heading to New York City," Jackson comments as he places his hand on my back.

I sigh and turn, "I'll tell Logan, we'll get barricades set up in a ten-mile radius around the city. There are people on this side of the barriers who have never seen a hybrid."

Mitch nods, "yeah, well, if these things fly over those barriers, they're gonna see a whole lot of them. As they get eaten."

Jackson sighs, "If the hybrids get into the city, the East Coast could fall in days. We have to go there."

As the boys converse, I call Logan, who is I don't know where on the plane. Once I hang up I turn back to the boys, "Logan is getting ahold of anyone and everyone he can to help stop this invasion."

Jackson changes our flight pattern to New York City. Now it is just a waiting game until we get there. While on the way there Jackson and I find ourselves alone in the kitchen. As I look through the fridge I hear Jackson clear his throat, "Looking for this?"

As I look over the fridge door to see Jackson holding a bottle of chardonnay. "Yes, actually, I was."

Jackson smiles, as he grabs two glasses from the cabinet, "Care for a glass?"

"I don't know, the last time I tried drinking any here, your dad slapped the glass out of my hand."

"Yeah, well he had a good reason to."

"I suppose so."

Once he has poured the glasses, Jackson hands me a glass and places the bottle on the counter before picking up his. Looking back at the glass, "I will never forgive him for what we lost because of him."

I shake my head, "Jackson, it was as much his fault as it could have been mine. The odds for the first trimester are so low it is a miracle anyone is even born, not to mention the added risks and odds for a first-time mother."

"I know but… we could have had a chance if it wasn't for him."

"To what? Have our son kidnapped like Isaac was?"

Jackson chuckles softly, "You know, everytime we talk about the baby, you always refer to it as a boy."

I sigh softly, "because when I picture the life we could have had with him, I see a little boy." I chuckle softly, "Who looks just like his daddy."

Jackson nods and steps closer to me, "Who is just as smart as his mommy and a heartbreaker like her too."

I chuckle, "No, a heartbreaker like his daddy."

The two of us laugh softly as Jackson places his forehead against mine, everytime we do this I hear Mitch comment, 'just like lions'. It isn't often we talk about the baby we lost or Robert, but when we do, it feels like the wound heals a little more. After finishing our glasses Jackson and I head upstairs, near of us had gotten any sleep in the past few days and we have a little while before we get to New York City, so now would be the best time. When we get to the top of the stairs we run into Jamie.

"Jackson, Kat, look, we can't go on like this."

Jackson puts up a hand in protest and the two of us turn to Jamie, "Just stop."

Jamie shakes her head, "I know I put a target on your backs for the last five years, and you're angry, and it's warranted. I can keep apologizing."

Jackson sighs and straightens up, like he does when he is going to lecture someone, "This isn't about us, Jamie. Abe sacrificed everything for us, to keep us safe. His marriage, his job, his son. And I will never be able to repay him for that. So, I just hope that the best-seller list was worth it."

Jamie's expression goes cold, "Come with me. We need to take a little walk." Before we can answer Jamie turns and walks away. Jackson turns and looks at me before I begin to follow Jamie, while I don't turn to look, I can hear Jackson's footsteps behind me.

Jackson sighs rather loudly and annoyed as we walk down into the plane's basement. "Okay, what are we doing?"

As Jamie stops in front of one of the cages a man limps forward and I recognize him. One of the generals working with Robert and the Shepards 10 years ago. "Mansdale?"

Mansdale looks from me to Jackson, "Oh look. The coward son of Oz and his whore."

Jamie glances over her shoulder, "Talk again and I cut your eye out." then turns her attention back to Jackson and me, "This is what I've been protecting you from."

"What are you talking about? Protecting us?" Jackson looks as though he's taken back.

"Why do the Shepard Hunters think the two of you are in Asia? Who scrubbed your photos from every server on the planet? The only thing keeping you two on this side of a cage or worse is me."

"That's very generous of you." I look from Mansdale to Jamie.

"Except, you're the reason that they're chasing us in the first place." Jackson scoffs.

As Jackson makes his comment, Jamie takes out a handgun and hands it to Jackson, "You have a choice to make. If I am the grand villain of your life, you can shoot me. Or you can shoot one of the men who tried to end the world. Or you can accept that what's past is past and move on with whatever future we all have left."

Before any of us can move for comment Jackson hands the gun back to Jamie, before turning and heading out of the basement.


	7. Africa

A few moments after Jackson leaves the basement I turn to follow. When we get back upstairs Jackson looks down to the ground shaking his head. "Why the hell does she have Mansdale in the basement?"

I sigh and shrug my shoulders, "I don't know, Jackson. But we have to trust that she has a reason."

"Trust. You want to trust her. After everything she did to us?" Jackson looks up to me, in shock and anger. "Kat, we had to leave Africa, our home, because of her book. She sold out!"

"She tried to set the record straight. The Shepherd Hunters would have come after us either way. She tried and she failed, but at least she tried." Jackson just shakes his head before scoffing. "You know it's true, Jackson."

Jackson takes a deep breath and nods his head before turning and heading back downstairs into the lab, "Come on, we have work to do."

As the two of us make our way down the stairs to the lab, we see Mitch. Upon seeing him I call out, the three of us meeting at the bottom of the stairs. "Hey, Mitch. Did you know that Jamie is keeping Mansdale prisoner in the bottom of this plane?"

Mitch nods, "Yeah. And, on the one hand, it is dark and horrible. On the other hand, the Shepherds did almost wipe out all of humanity. Oh, and also the whole vigilante thing is kind of working of me."

I shake my head, "Okay… did not need to know that."

Mitch cringes slightly, "Sorry. But you can't tell me that half the things Jackson did when we were trying to stop the shepherds and cure the animals didn't turn you on, just a little bit."

I take a deep breath before nodding as I shrug. Jackson just lets out a loud sigh, "Mitch, this isn't a joke. We have to keep an eye on her."

"Okay." Mitch nods and looks around.

I glance into the lab and clear my throat, "We should be close to New York by now, I don't think we'll get a lot of work done."

Mitch nods, "The lady's right. Plus, I think we could all use a break from volcano erupting, burrowing vultures anyway."

"I think I could go the rest of my life without seeing them again and wouldn't feel bad at all." I smile over to Mitch. Mitch nods and heads back in the direction he came and I wrap my arm through Jacksons, "Come on, let's head back up to the bar and relax for a little while."

"I don't think alcohol is the best idea right now."

"Then we won't drink. But we can still talk and just relax for a few minutes. No vultures. No shepherds. No Jamie. Just you and me."

After a minute or so of thinking, Jackson nods and the two of us head upstairs. Once we get up there Jackson sits on one of the couches and stretches out and I sit next to him, laying my head on his shoulder. "You know I don't think I can remember the last time we sat like this," Jackson comments as he wraps an arm around me.

"I can't either. We haven't done a lot we use to do these past few years."

"We haven't really had the ability to."

I nod and take a deep breath. "Yeah, you're right."

"But we have time now and we stayed together. That's what matters." Jackson looks around the room before standing, "You know what else we haven't done in a while." Jackson doesn't look back to me as he walks across the room to the stereo, "danced." he turns back to me and smiles, the same smile a mischievous child would give before he selects a song. Once Jackson picks the song and presses play, the stereo begins to play.

 _I hear the drums echoing tonight._

 _But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation._

 _She's coming in, 12:30 flight._

 _The moonlit wings reflect the stars the guide me towards salvation._

 _ **(Africa by Toto)**_

I chuckle softly as I shake my head and stand, "Africa, really?"

Jackson shrugs, "I thought it was a good fit for us." he takes a few steps toward me and meets me halfway, placing a hand on the small of my back and taking mine in the other, as I place a hand on his shoulder. "Plus, I thought you loved Toto."

I chuckle, "I do, but I haven't heard this song in ages."

As the song hits the chorus, Jackson starts to sing, for nothing more than the purpose of making me laugh.

 _It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you._

 _There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do._

 _I bless the rains down in Africa._

 _Gonna take some time to do the things we never had._

I laugh softly as Jackson and I place our foreheads together and sway to the music. A few moments later we hear Abe calling out for the doorway, "Well, it's nice to see you two are still just as in love as you were 10 years ago." he chuckles, "and still complete goofballs."

Jackson and I laugh, as Jackson turns to Abe, "Only when it's completely appropriate."

Abe nods and smiles, "We are about to land, we need to get ready to head out." Jackson and I nod before we follow Abe down to the lab, where Mitch and Jamie are already getting ready. Mitch meets us at the bottom of the stairs and Abe hands him a small glass tablet. "Use it to track the bacon. I've had luck blocking the hybrid signal before, but this beacon is a whole different beast."

Jackson nods as he hands a few of the devices Abe was able to make to Mitch, "okay, so we are gonna work on a solution here and we'll talk you through it once you find the beacon."

"In the meantime, use these things for signal dampening."

Mitch looks over to Abe a little confused. I chuckle softly, "Wrap it in tinfoil. Use the copper wire to.."

Mitch nods, "Yeah, I got it. Make it all electric-y." Mitch looks down at his arms that are a pill of tinfoil, wires, and other things."

Logan walks into the lab from the vehicle bay. "Ready to go?"

Jamie grabs a bag and looks over Mitch, "Yeah, let's go."

"Be careful guys, especially around Abigail," I warn.

"Don't worry. We'll be fine." Jamie smiles as she shrugs.

The three of them head out, leaving Abe, Jackson, and I on the plane to try and figure out how to deactivate the signal. I sigh softly as we begin, "This would be so much easier if we could go with them."

Abe nods, "Yes, but we can't risk you two being spotted by Shepherd hunters."

"I know, I know." I take a deep breath as the three of us get started.

After a little while, I glance around and Jackson looks over to me, "What is it?"

"Have either of you seen Clem or Dariela?"

"No, why?"

"It's not like Clem to miss something like this. With that big brain of hers, I figured she'd be all over this. Same with Dariela. I'm gonna go look for them, make sure everything alright."

Abe and Jackson nod, letting me head out to look for the girls. When I get out to the cargo bay I see Dariela talking to Clem, "Going somewhere?"

"After all my tune-ups, it turns out the truck is just missing a fuel cell relay. It must have come loose when we were getting out of that cabin. Luckily, I know a few good garages in the area."

"I don't think you should go out by yourself," I call out to Clem when I do the two turn to me.

Dariela nods, "I agree. Let me come with you. It'll give us something to do while those guys work on the beacon."

Clem chuckles, "I appreciate the concern, but I think I go this one." Without more, Clem starts up her bike, slides on her helmet and speeds off.

I walk down to Dariela, "She does realize that's not a smart thing to do, while she's pregnant, right?"

Dariela shrugs, "I don't know. She was smart enough to know what vitamins she'd need to make her own prenatal vitamins, so I'd assume so." she crosses her arm and looks out the back on the plane.

I head back to the lab and hear Mitch on the speaker, "Guys, guess what? Abigail's gunning for Reiden Tower. So whatever you're cooking up, better make it fast."

"Yeah, we're on it." Jackson nods before looking for to me, "Did you find the girls?"

I nod, "Yeah, Clem is out getting a part to fix the car, and Dariela is waiting for her to get back."

Abe chuckles, "Seems backwards. Saving Reiden Tower."

I shake my head and walk over to the two of them, "We're saving New York City and, perhaps the entire East Coast."

Jackson nods and clears his throat, "Alright, so, look, this is hopefully what Mitch has access to inside of Reiden. We'll need to boost our hybrid signal to match the intensity of the beacon."

I glance down at the things in front of us as Jackson starts to wrap the hybrid in tinfoil, "Lemon Juice?"

Abe looks over to me just as confused, "I know it's a good conductor, but why do we have so much?"

Jackson shrugs, "Apparently, Jamie makes a mean Tom Collins. It's nice to know she had so much time for hobbies in between destroying lives. You lost a lot because of her, Abe."

Abe shakes his head, "You need to stop using me as an excuse. Jamie was just doing what she thought was right. Despite everything that's happened, I'm glad we're back together. No matter how messy it gets, we're still a family. You, me, Kat, Dariela, Jamie, Mitch… Clem…" Abe pause before saying, Clem.

Jackson looks over to him, "What's going on? What aren't you telling us?"

"I need to find Dariela."

I shake my head, "Abe, we need to talk."

"I'll be right back. Just use the electrical tape and the lemon juice, okay?"

I look over to Jackson a little confused. Abe has never acted that way before.


	8. Mustang

Jackson and I continue working with the different things Mitch will have access to at Reiden and figured out how to dampen the beacon. After about thirty minutes Mitch calls. "Alright, guys. I'm ready."

Jackson glances over to me and I take a deep breath, "So you're gonna need to find some electrical tape and then a whole lot of lemon juice."

"What?" we can hear a faint beeping coming from the other end of the line, "Uh, guys? Either this thing's broken or there's a swarm of hybrids heading for us."

"Just focus on turning the beacon off, we will worry about the hybrids."

Jackson looks at me confused. "What are you gonna do?"

I shrug, "We'll need to find a way to make a beacon if Mitch can get the other turned off."

Mitch comes back over the speaker, "I found some tape. Don't know what I'm gonna do about the lemon juice."

We can head what sounds like a door opening, followed by Logan's voice, "We need to leave."

"Little busy." Mitch replies, "Where's Jamie? Where's Abigail?"

"I lost them both."

"You're a detective, go detect them."

I sigh as the two bicker at one another and start to try to find a way to make a new beacon and up the signal on it. As I look around Jackson and I hear gunshots from the other end of the line.

"Are you crazy?!" Mitch exclaims.

"It was worth a shot."

"Really?"

"What was that?!" I call out to Mitch.

"Detective here just shot the beacon."

"Did it stop it?"

"Uh… no, it did not."

"Guess that means new plan."

"I have an idea," Logan calls out. "What do you think, middle of the Atlantic?"

"What are you two talking about?" Jackson looks over to me, just as confused as I am about the conversation we are hearing.

"There are drones in here. We can fly this thing out." Logan explains.

I nod, "that's a great idea! I'll look for somewhere to get rid of the hybrids." I pull up a map on the computer.

"Worst case we see if these turkeys can swim." Logan comments.

As I look over the maps to find a place to get rid of the hybrids Mitch sighs, "It's working."

"Yeah, you're welcome."

"Guys, we'll call you when we find a place to get rid of the hybrids, just get them out of the city." Jackson comments. When he hangs up Abe walks into the lab.

"What's going on?"

Jackson looks over to him, "Well, Logan and Mitch managed to find a way to get the hybrids away from the city."

"So they destroyed the beacon."

I cringe, "Not really. They are using it to lore the hybrids away."

Jackson walks over to me with a tablet, "Somethings wrong. Mitch sent me the feed so we could control the drone, but it's losing altitude."

"Must be a low battery."

Abe nods, "it can't handle the extra weight of the beacon."

Jackson sighs, "If we don't do something fast, it's not gonna make it to the ocean."

Abe looks to Jackson then to me, "Do you think Jamie still has that harpoon crossbow on the plane?"

Jackson nods to Abe, as I look between the two confused, "Why?"

Jackson kisses my cheek, "Don't worry about it, just keep looking for a place to lose the hybrids."

The two run out to the back of the plane and I can hear the cargo bay opening and I rush back to the cargo bay to see Abe hooking Jackson, who is in a harness, to the deck of the cargo bay. I shout to Jackson, "You'd better not be planning on hanging out of this plane."

"Don't worry about it," Jackson calls back.

"Wait until the very last second to shot," Abe calls out. "Now!"

As Jackson shots, he hits the beacon but is pulled to the edge of the bay door. Abe, Dariela, and I all rush to the cable to hold Jackson in. "We got you!" Dariela shouts.

As we try to pull Jackson in, we hear Mitch on the speakers, "Guys, we got a big problem."

Jackson shouts back, "We've got bigger problems."

"You're all gonna have even bigger problems, if I find out my husband falls out of this plane!" I shout.

Thankfully we get Jackson pulled back in and we rush into the lab with the drone and beacon. Dariela walks over to the table, "This is a bad idea. I found the copper wire."

Abe shakes his head, "it has to be insulated. Copper wire will block the signal."

"Well, if you ask me, blocking the signal's exactly what the doctor ordered," I comment.

"No," Abe protest, "If we do that, we have no way of knowing which way the hybrids will fly. They could attack another city."

The phone brings to ring and Dariela walks over to it, "it's Mitch."

As she answers the phone Mitch begins to speak, "Hey, we go a problem."

"Yeah, a big one." Jackson comments. "You attached the beacon to a drone with a bum fuel cylinder. We had to rescue it."

"So where are the hybrids?"

I sigh, "Oh, they're here, trying to bash their way into the plane." I look over to Jackson, "We're going to fly back to Mexico and drop this beacon into the volcano. And the hybrids along with it. We have to make sure to kill them."

"Cool plan provided you get to the volcano before the hybrids get to you."

Jackson sighs, "Yeah, thanks for the vote of confidence. What's the update on Abigail?"

"That's the other thing. Turns out, Logan's a lousy cop. He shot Abigail, but she got away. Oh, and he arrested Jamie."

"What? Why?"

"For murdering the Reiden CEO."

"Leanne Ducovny? She's dead?" Dariela asks.

"Banner day, all things considered. I'm at the precinct now trying to sort it all out. Hey, is Clem with you guys?"

"She's still in New York, Mitch. She went after a part for a truck, and we had to take off." Jackson comments.

"Sounds like she dodged a bullet. I'll track her down. Well, good luck with the suicide mission." Mitch hangs up the phone.

Jackson finally got the battery out of the drone, "we need another battery."

"I'll grab it." Abe heads off.

Once Abe returns Jackson attaches it to the drone, "We are almost there, is it ready?" I turn from the map to the boys.

"I hope so." Jackson nods as we head to the cargo bay.

Once we are there I look down to the GPS, "30 miles out from the volcano."

Jackson nods, "Okay, we only got one shot at this. Wind's at 240 knots."

"Maybe we should wait until we're close enough to the volcano and then just drop it." Abe comments.

"10 miles out."

Jackson nods, "We'd need to weight it down with something about a thousand pounds heavier." We all glance over to Jamie's mustang, "that'll work."

"We better hurry," Dariela comments, before we jump into actions.

Jackson jumps into the car and puts it into neutral and then hops out, "Open the door."

As Dariela opens the door Abe loads the beacon into the trunk and we all get ready to push it out. "Three, two, one."

As the Mustang falls into the volcano the hybrids follow and we all let out a sigh of relief. As we look to each other, I sigh, "I'm not telling Jamie we pushed her Mustang into a volcano."


	9. Secret Family

We head back into the lab and look at the monitor that had been tracking the hybrids while Abe takes a phone call. When Abe comes into the lab Jackson walks over to him, "What was that about?"

Abe sighs, "Mansdale escaped and hid in the back of the Mustang."

Jackson sighs, "and we pushed it into a volcano."

"After everything he did to help Reiden and Robert, did he really deserve any better?" I turn to the group, "Good news though, it worked. They all followed the beacon right into the volcano."

Jackson nods as I turn to him, "But we have to get to Abigail before she hurts anyone else. We should turn around and head back to New York."

Abe steps forward, "First we have to go after Isaac, Look, I'm sorry, Rafiki, but we were not honest with the two of you. Isaac is not safe. He's still in Reiden's custody."

I shake my head, "why didn't you tell us?"

"Dariela and I, we thought we could get Isaac back on our own. But we were wrong."

I look over to Jackson, "Then we'll go after him. Together, okay?" Jackson states, rather determinately. As he does I take a deep breath and look over to him. Jackson takes a deep breath and nods, "We have not been honest with you guys either. Back in Portland, Logan did some tests on Abigail's blood, DNA tests. And we should've told you from the beginning, but we thought that we could handle it on our own too."

"Handle what?" Dariela questions.

"Abigail is my sister."

"What?"

I chuckle, "Another of Robert's secrets."

Jackson nods, "I couldn't stop him, but I have to stop her."

One of the computers begins to beep and Dariela walks over to it, "It's an SOS."

"From who?" walk over beside her. "Wasn't this side of the mountain lost to hybrids years ago? The IADG Evacuated everyone." I look over to Jackson.

"We have to get down there." Jackson sighs, "I can't let anyone else die because of Abigail. Then we will go get Isaac, I promise."

"Okay," Abe nods, "Let's do this."

Jackson and I head out of the room as Dariela calls out to Abe. Abe stays behind but Jackson and I keep going. Abe meets us in the cargo bay as we land in Yucatan Mexico, and head to the SOS origin. When we get there it is foggy and you can barely see in front of your face. "This is where the SOS Signal originated." Abe looks up from the tablet to Jackson and me.

We all step out of the truck and look around, "Hello? Anyone here?" I shout.

"That's good, call the Razorbacks to our position." Dariela comments.

We approach a truck with its hood up and there appears to be someone working on it, "Hello?"

As we step closer a woman steps out and raises a gun. As they do, Jackson steps ahead of me, "Whoa, whoa, whoa."

The woman sighs and pulls down the bandana covering her face. "Dylan? Elizabeth?"

I look at the woman shocked, "Tessa?"

Tessa had worked with Jackson and I for almost two years after we moved to the West Coast. Helping us to move relocated families, until more help was needed further South. Of course, she didn't know who we really were and thought we were Dylan and Elizabeth Greene.

"What are you two doing here?"

"We got your distress call."

Jackson nods, "These are our friends, Abraham, and Dariela Kenyatta. Guys, this is Tessa."

"Pleasure to meet you." Abe smiles.

"Why aren't you two back in Portland?" Tessa looks between Jackson and I.

"Uhh…" I scratch my head, "long story. What are you doing in Mexico? We thought we were working in California."

"We got word people needed an evac here. I was doing a final sweep until my truck died."

Dariela steps over to the truck, "That's your radiator hose. We can plug it up and refill it."

Jackson looks back over to Tessa, "We heard his place had been overrun by hybrids years ago."

"The area yes, the town no. The villagers say they haven't seen a hybrid in years." Tessa looks from Jackson to me.

I shake my head, "No razorbacks?"

"Nope, nothing. They claim there's a witch in town who's kept the hybrids away."

"This witch, did she evacuate with the others?"

"No, she's refusing to leave."

Jackson looks over to me, "Well, then I think we'd like to talk to her."

Tessa shrugs, "I'd like to talk her into leaving. And loop back with my team."

"I don't think that's a good idea." Dariela states, "The volcano's unstable, it won't be long before this area is toast."

"Look, if this woman really can keep the hybrids away, then maybe there's a way she can help us stop Abigail." Jackson turns to Dariela.

I nod, "It's worth a shot."

"Circle the plane, keep it out of the ash, we'll radio in ten minutes." Jackson looks to Abe and Dariela who nod and walk away. Jackson turns back to Tessa, "Can you tell us the coordinates of the compound and those two and get you back to your group."

"Yeah, sure." Tessa takes the map and marks the point of the Witch's compound.

I smile, "Thanks. Take care." I give her a hug before she heads off with Abe and Dariela, before Jackson and I fix the truck and head out ourselves. "Let's go find a witch."

As Jackson and I start to the compound I shake my head and sigh, rather sadly, "What is it?" Jackson glances over to me.

"Tessa was my best friend for two years, and for two years, my best friend didn't even know my real name. She had no idea who I was."

"She knew you, she just didn't know your name. Or mine."

"I know we had to lie and why we hid from the truth. More truths than just who we were."

"What do you mean?"

I take a deep breath and look over to Jackson, "Ever since I was a little girl, I dreamed about being a mother. I wanted a whole litter of babies like I always told you I did. I wanted to love them. And hold them. Help them grow. I always said that if all I was in this life was someone's wife and someone's mother, then I did what I was put on this Earth to do. But when your father dropped the TX-gas and we lost the baby, I knew our dream of having my own children was over. Then when we had to move and go on the run, I knew our dream of adopting was too. I tried to forget and be happy with that we had in Portland. I tried to focus on helping people and being with you. But it wasn't enough. Thinking about that family I dreamed about, that I'll never have with you, hurts every day."

Jackson nods, "I get it. I really do."

I shake my head, "I felt like such a failure when I lost the baby. Like there wasn't a point."

Jackson takes a deep breath, "I had a family once." I look around to Jackson shocked as he continues, "Another wife and a son. I was 19. We were day-tripping to Nairobi, and we had been driving all day, and I was thirsty, so we stopped at a gas station. And I remember taking too long inside, you know, I was trying to decide between coffee and tea." Jackson's voice breaks as he continues, "And then I heard it. It was like a bomb went off." Jackson takes a deep breath, "A truck lost control, slammed into one of the pumps. His name was Connor. He was six months old."

I cover my mouth, tears running down my face, "Jackson, I'm so… I never knew."

"Abe is the only one alive who knows. Tried to forget, I tried to move on with my life, and I did. I found you and I was happy, but you're right. It hurts every single day. But Kat, I know that if we can stop Abigail, I know we can find a way to reverse the TX-Gas. I've come to terms that I can never bring my family back. But I'm not going to give up on the one I can have with you. I promise you that."

I reach over and take Jackson's hand and the two of us keep driving.


	10. Abendegos

As Jackson and I continue down the road we come across what looks like a junkyard, with cars and trailers all around, not to mention the piles of what appears to be unless nicknacks and trash. When the truck comes to a stop Jackson and I step out of the truck, guns ready, but not up or aimed.

Jackson glances over to me as I walk around the front of the truck, "This must be the place."

I look around and notice there isn't any ash in the air, like there was our entire drive, "There's got to be a scientific explanation for this, right?"

Jackson nods as he looks around, "The trees may be creating a windbreak, keeping the ash away."

"Or this woman really is a witch."

The two of us walk up onto the porch of the red trailer we parked in front of. When we get up to the door I notice a very familiar symbol on the door. "Isn't that? Abigail's symbol?"

Jackson takes out the disc we have and holds it up to the door, before nodding over to me. "It matches."

As Jackson and I sigh, taking another moment to look around, the trailer door opens, and a small Hispanic woman steps out. Jackson hadn't put the disc away yet and the woman looks at the drive and then up to Jackson. "Eres Senor. Duncan?"

Jackson looks down to the small woman confused, I chuckle softly and translate, having learned Spanish to help a few people we help move in California and Utah. "She's asking if you're Mr. Duncan. Do you know who that is?" I look over to Jackson.

Jackson shakes his head, "No. But there's only one way to find out."

The woman asks again, "Eres Senor. Duncan?"

Jackson takes a deep breath, "Si, Senor Duncan."

"Que Buena." That's good, the woman says, nodding and smiling up to Jackson.

Jackson nods and smiles to the woman. She is in a long red, almost Moo Moo dress, a long red and black patterned scarf over her shoulders, a long necklace, earrings, and a beige gardening hat. Once Jackson confirms he is Mr. Duncan the woman walks down off the porch and around to the back of the trailer. There is another trailer and a few more things, that again, make the place look like a junkyard.

"Déjame llevarte Abendegos. Ha Estado Esperando al Senor. Duncan." Let me take you to Abendeogs. He has been waiting for Mr. Duncan. The woman speaks as she walks a few feet in front of us.

"She's taking just to meet someone named Abendegos, who's been waiting for Mr. Duncan. Wild guess you don't know who that is, either."

"No, but we did just assumed that Abigail was working alone, but it makes sense that she wasn't."

"Yeah, well, let's hope that this Abendegos and Mr. Duncan haven't met, or we might be one step closer to dead."

As we approach another trailer there are two men playing cards, upon seeing us the men stand and grab their guns, but the woman stops them. "Oye, Oye, Este es el Senor Duncan." hey, hey, this is Mr. Duncan.

The two men look to each other and then to us, one of the men was a spider tattooed on his left cheek, below his eye, the other is wearing a ball cap. It takes a minute, but one of them finally speaks, "Senor Duncan."

"Si, el esta aqui para ver a Abendegos," yes, he is here to see Abendegos.

The woman nods and walks away from the table as one of the men speaks, "Antes de entrar Tienes Que Dejar tus armas."

I sigh and look over to Jackson, "We need to leave the guns on the table."

Jackson and I nod, doing as we are asked. Laying our guns on the table, careful not to disturb the beers and cards on the table. We nod to the men before turning and walking up the porch to the second trailer. There are torn mesh nets and so many other things around this trailer to looks as if it's decorated for Halloween.

Jackson opens the door and slowly steps inside and I follow him, the door creaks as it opens. There are boards covering the windows and letting in very little light, there is also what sounds like something snoring in the trailer. I look around and whisper to Jackson, "Sounds like you after a few too many."

Jackson looks over to me with a smile and shakes his head, "shut up."

As we glance at the back of the trailer we notice there is something asleep, laying on the ground, something VERY large. The creator begins to wake up at the sound of the door closing behind Jackson and I, when it looks around and notices us, it lets out a screech. We can hear chains rattling as the creator moves toward us. As it does Jackson and I jump backward, landing on the ground, getting as close to the wall as we can, as it begins to hit the ground in front of us. I yelp and that a few deep breaths as the creator moves his focus to Jackson.

"Jackson, Jackson." The creator lets out in a growly harsh voice.

Judging from the look on his face, as he is zoned out on the creator in front of us, Jackson is in as much shock as I am. "Did that thing just say your name?"

"No, no, that's impossible."

"Jackson." The creator growls again.

Jackson shrugs, still looking shocked and terrified, "Okay. Maybe not impossible."

"So, Abendegos is a hybrid who can talk. Remind me to kill you when we get out of here."

"We need to tighten its restraints. Do you have a necklace or bracelet or something?"

"The only thing I have is my wedding ring and I'd like to keep it." I know it sounds selfish in hindsight, but it was Jackson's mother's. We had to dig and dig through what we had left at the camp when we got back to find it and we never thought we would, we figured lotters came in and took it. "Why?"

"Because it looks part baboon. Baboons are driven by curiosity. I need something shiny." Jackson stands and starts to dig through his pockets, "okay, hey!" he comments as the creator continues to pound the floor.

"No, your clicker? You need that to control the lions." Jackson tosses the clicker into the trailer and the creator follows it, smashing it as he gets it, "I guess, we can kiss any animal assistance goodbye. You couldn't have thrown a stick or something?"

"I was improvising." Jackson shrugs as the two of us grab the chain and pull, shortening it dramatically, before tying it off. The creator is far from happy, as he begins to jump up and down in the trailer. "We need to study this creature."

"No way we're getting it outside."

"No, I know. We're gonna tow this whole thing back to the plane."

"What about the gruesome twosome? Something tells me they're not gonna be okay with that."

"We won't ask them." Jackson walks to the side of the trailer, opposite the one we came in and looks for a weak spot, once he finds one he hits it, opening up the wall. Once he is out, Jackson helps me out and we head for the truck. As we make our way back to the truck, bullets hit around feet.

When we look up the Hispanic woman is there, holding my rifle on us. "No te muevas." Don't move.

I sigh and put my hands up as the other two shot into the air, "I think they figured out you're not Mr. Duncan."

As the two men approach us the woman shakes her head, "Imposter, no eres el Senor Duncan." Imposter, you're not Mr. Duncan."

Jackson puts his hands up and steps in front of me, "Listen, I can explain, okay? Abigail is my sister." As Jackson speaks I translate.

The man with the ball cap shouts, "No te muevas! Quedarse quieto!" Don't move, stay put!"

"Quien eres tu?" who are you? The woman shouts.

I step up beside Jackson, "I think I can talk them down

"Katherine, don't."

"I have to do something, just think of a plan to get us out of here." I look to the three of them. "Ya no estas seguro aqui," You're no longer safe here. One of the men shout something, that I didn't catch, before firing at our feet. "El es hermano de Abigail. Podemos llevarte a la y Abendegos." He is Abigail's brother. We can bring you to safety. you and Abendegos.

"Abendegos no puede ser movido." Abendegos cannot be moved, the woman shouts.

"Tranquilo!" Quiet! The man with the spider tattoo shouts as he hits Jackson with the butt of his gun. Jackson falls to the ground and I do with him, look up at the three around us. "No mas mentiras! Se acabo" no more lies. This is over.

I stand as one of the men steps closer to me, holding his gun to my chest. As he does Jackson sits up on his knees, lifts his hand up and shouts, "NO!"

As Jackson shouts, I hear what sounds like lion snarls and roars. When I look around a see a group of mountain lions surround us. So this is how I die, either by lion or bullet. As he stands, Jackson lowers his hand, looking around to the lions. I look over to Jackson, "What's happening? Is it because that thing smashed your clicker?"

"I don't think so." Jackson looks over to me, taking a few deep breaths.

I would step over to him, but I'm all but sure I'd be mauled or shot, if not both if I move an inch. As the lions move in everyone begins to shift, "Jackson, if that clicker didn't do this, dow that mean you summoned these animals with your mind?"

"Sorta."

"Jackson!"

"You really wanna play 20 questions right now?"

As I look around to the other three, one of the lions pounce on the man with the cap. "NO!" the woman shouts before she and the other man begin shooting at the lions. Allowing Jackson and I to run and hide behind a truck.

"Okay, look, we can't leave here without the hybrid, okay? We got to get to the truck, hook it to the trailer, and get the hell out of here."

I nod and look around, before turning to Jackson, "Alright, on the count of three. Make a run for it."

"Perfect."

I move up so I can start running, "Three!" I take off, running in the opposite direction of the truck and over to Abenegos' trailer, distracting the man and woman so Jackson can get to the truck.

"Katherine!" Jackson shouts after me. But I'm already gone, hiding beside the shaking trailer. Jackson must have gotten to the truck because before long I hear a familiar engine. Then see Jackson rush up and drift into a turn to back up to the trailer.

"Back up, back up, back up, back up!" I shout gesturing in a circular motion. "That's good!"

Jackson hops out of the truck and moves to the back of the truck. The two of us are separated by about two feet and gunfire. The lions snarl and the man screams as the gunfire stops. Jackson and I both look out and see one of the lions pulling him away. And I look over to Jackson shocked, "Did you do that?"

"No. maybe, I don't know." Jackson shakes his head as he leans over and attaches the trailer to the truck. "I got it, come on! Let's go!"

As Jackson shouts I run to the driver side door, Jackson behind me. Once I'm in the car I jump across the car into the passenger seat. The woman still shooting at us as Jackson drives away. I glance back and take a deep breath, "Well, that went well."


	11. Melvatox-B

When we get back to the plane Abe and Dariela rush out and meet us in the cargo bay. "What is there?" Dariela points to the trailer.

I chuckle as I walk around the truck, "You really wanna see?"

Jackson sighs as he opens the door to show the two of them Abendegos. Abe and Dariela look shocked, confused, and fearful all at the same time. "He's chained, shouldn't be able to get free."

"How does this thing fit in your sister's plan?" Dariela turns to Jackson and I.

Jackson leans against one of the other trucks. "Plan. She has a plan beyond just unleashing pain and terror?"

I take a deep breath and shake my head, "The people holding him were waiting for Mr. Duncan. We think he might be Abigail's partner in this, somehow." As I make this comment we hear what sounds like metal sliding out of metal and the growling we had been talking over stops. "What happened?" I look over to Jackson.

Slowly, and I mean painfully slowly, Jackson steps to the door of the trailer, I think we are all half expecting it to fly open. When Jackson opens the door and glances inside, the growling and banging resumes and Jackson quickly slams the door and we all scream, jumping back, "So definitely not chained anymore."

Abe takes a deep breath, "I need to study this Abendegos."

I chuckle, "Do we have any tranquilizers on board? Like, dinosaur tranquilizers?"

Dariela nods, "Oh yeah."

"I'll go prepare a sedative." Abe comments as he walks up the ramps. After sharing a few glances, the rest of us follow him into the lab, where Abe looks through a few cabinets, "We need to dissolve this into a solution and then we should be ready to sedate your friend Abendegos."

"Great." Jackson nods, "Abe, how are you holding up with Isaac and everything?"

Abe sighs, "not well. But I've gotten good at distracting myself. Keeping myself busy. You know, before they took Isaac away, I was working on a synthetic reproductive hormone, based on the NLRP2 protein and stem cells harvested from animal's cerebrospinal fluid."

I chuckle softly, "Animal stem cells."

"That makes sense, they weren't affected by the TX-gas." Jackson nods.

"Exactly," Abe continues, "but none of the animal samples I tested yielded any positive results. But these hybrids are different. They display a hyper-growth property. I believe their stem cells could be the key. So hopefully Clem's baby will be able to provide the missing piece."

I shake my head, "Hold on, Clem's what?"

Abe looks to me then to Jackson, "We are getting a new little member of the family. One I think we all know the significance of."

Jackson shakes his head, "So, Clem and her being pregnant, how does that factor into all of this? The child has a unique protein."

Abe chuckles, "Unlike anything I've ever seen. It displays even greater potential than the NLRP2 protein at synthesizing the reproductive hormone that we need. I'm going to call it the CLM-protein. After Clementine."

I chuckle and sit one of the desks, "All right, so Clem's baby, plus hybrid stem cells, could solve the sterility problem?"

Abe nods, "that's the idea at least. We just need a cerebrospinal fluid sample from Abendegos to prove it."

Jackson shrugs, "How hard could that be?"

Abe sighs, "Well, here we go."

As Abe heads out to give Abendegos the sedative, I hope off the desk and head to the kitchen, not having had anything to eat today. As I do, Jackson follows. As I being cutting an apple I look up to him, "So, how do you do it? Control the animals. The lions in Portland, that Noah's Ark back there?"

"Well, my dad, he did genetic experiments on me when I was a kid."

"I know, the injecting you with a fo-ghost gene and all."

Jackson nods, "And I think the gas that sterilized people activated something in me."

"There is a reason I had that man with a passion. Can't imagine how much you hate him."

"I do and I don't. Part of me thinks that he couldn't help it. Between him and my sister, I'm beginning to think that there's something tainted in the Oz bloodline. Like, we're cursed."

"Jackson, you can't really believe that."

As Jackson and I gaze across the island to each other Abe comes over the intercom, "Jackson, Katherine. We're ready for you two in the vehicle bay."

Jackson nods but doesn't move. "When we land, I think that you should get as far away from me as possible."

I scoff, "Jackson, I've been through worse than a crazy sister and hybrids with you. God, do you remember that diner in Memphis?"

Jackson nods and laughs, "Yeah, and the uh… spoon stood up in the spoon all by its self."

I laugh and nods, "Yeah… If I can make it through that and everything else we've been through together, I know I can handle this." I step into the door, "And I know that you couldn't handle it without me."

Jackson chuckles as he walks up behind me, placing his hands on my hips, "Is that so?" I giggle softly as Jackson turns me around and pushes me against the wall, kissing me passionately, while he pins one of my arms against the wall.

A few moments later we hear Abe on the intercom again, "Sometime day would be nice you two."

Jackson chuckles, "We better get down there before one of 'em comes looking for us."

I nod, "Probably a good idea,"

Jackson and I head back to the cargo bay and see Dariela who has a gun pointed at the trailer and her back against one of the trucks, "Hope you guys cooked up a good plan. If we don't put this guy down ASAP, it's gonna give turbulence a whole new meaning."

Abe looks over to Jackson as we walk over to them, "Remember. Straight to the heart."

I shake my head, "Straight to the what? How are you gonna get close enough to stab it in the heart?"

Jackson looks over the very large needle in his hands, "I'm gonna give him what he wants. Me." I scoff and shake my head, before heading up the ramp and grabbing a gun. "What are you doing?"

"Look I trust Dareila's shot but there isn't gonna be only one gun on this thing if you're gonna be in danger."

Jackson nods, "Okay, but don't shoot unless I say so." Jackson looks to me as I take a position next to Dariela.

Abe heads around to the other side of the trailer, "Ready."

Jackson slowly opens the door and looks back to me as Dariela checks the doorway and checking where Abendego is. Once she does, Jackson goes in, moving slowly and cautiously, as Dariela and I both stand in the doorway. Abendegos begins to growl, but he sounds tired and worn down, "Don't shoot."

Jackson takes another step forward and Abendegos jumps on him. "Jackson!" We all scream.

We look on in horror before hearing Jackson grunt, "A little help here?!"

We all sigh a sigh of relief as Abe laughs and Jackson pushes Abendegos off of him. I take a deep breath and lean against the door frame, shaking my head and look to Jackson shocked and worried. "I swear one day you're gonna kill me."

"Yeah, I love you too, honey."

When we get back inside Abe starts to test the samples we got from Abendegos and Jackson gives Logan a call, letting him know what's going on and that we are on our way to get them. While Dariela and I head up to the sitting area to check for any news on Abigail. As we do a news report about the children comes on. As it does I rush to the balcony overlooking the lab and call down to the boys, "Come quick, it's the kids."

When we get back to the sitting room Dariela is standing in the middle of the room with her arms crossed, "They're raiding the kids' facilities. No one was responding from Reiden, so they're going in by force."

Abe rushes to his wife as Jackson comes to my side and we turn our attention to the new anchor, "Despite the government's initial cooperation with Reiden, the lack of transparency from the Reiden officials and the recent death of its CEO have led to today's forced entry of the Reiden Children's Holding Facility." We watch waiting for some good news, but none comes. As the SWAT cameras are shown on the live news feed, there are no children anywhere, "So far, there has been no sign of the children. We are receiving word now that the children are not, I repeat, not in the facility."

"No, no, no." Dariela falls into Abe. "It's got to be a mistake."

"The question now is: where have the children gone?"

I look over to Jackson, both of us tearing up. I shake my head as Jackson pulls me in. Once everyone calms down we get to work on finding out anything we can. Dariela heads out of the room to make a phone call up returns shortly after. Abe looks over to her, "Did you get any information?"

Dariela shakes her head, "No, I called my contacts in the army and Marines. No one knows a thing."

Abe nod and sighs, "I've been on hold with the State Department for 20 minutes."

I shake my head, "Hundreds of kids don't just disappear."

Jackson stands up and walks over to us, "I may have found something. When Logan called, he said right before Abigail killed Leanne, she mentioned a certain drug called Melvatox-B."

Dariela nods, "When Isaac called, he said that they were giving him candy for breakfast. What if the Melvatox-B is-is what Reiden is giving the kids?"

"That's exactly what I was thinking."

I shake my head, "Melvatox-B has a very specific radioactive signature."

Abe shakes his head, "How could the government sign off on a plan to kidnap kids and feed them poison?"

"In low doses, it's perfectly safe. I don't think they're trying to poison the kids." Jackson looks between Abe and Dariela.

"But they just gave us a way to find them," I smirk over to Jackson.

"What do you mean?" Dariela shakes her head.

"We're talking about thousands of kids with thousands of doses. That would produce a very significant radioactive footprint. Highways have scanners that send out alerts if there's radiation. Which cops have access to. We just need Logan. Follow the pills, find the kids."

Abe and Dariela nod and head out of the room. Since we are close to landing in New York I can imagine they want the others on board as soon as possible. When they head out I step towards Jackson and place my hands on his cheeks as I kiss him, "You're a genius!"

Jackson kisses me back and smiles, "I'm pretty sure you're the brains and the beauty in this relationship. I'm just the brute force."


	12. Who's Your Family?

As Jackson pulls away he takes a deep breath and I shake my head, "I'm not leaving."

"Kat, my only living relative wants to kill me, so the safest place for you is not here."

I place my hands on the back of Jackson's neck, "Look, your sister and your father, they're not your family. They might be your blood relatives, but family is who defines who you are. Abraham, Dariela, me, the rest of our team, that's your family."

Jackson shakes his head, placing it against mine, "I am so sorry that I hurt you. That they hurt you. You are the last person that I ever wanted to cause any pain. You saved me. When we had to leave and become Dylan and Elizabeth, I thought we'd lose what made us, us. But we didn't, because of you. How do you thank the person that gave you your life back?"

I smile up to him, "You go save the world, genius." I lean in and kiss him. "With me right beside you."

Jackson takes a deep breath, "Yeah. With you right beside me."

Once the plane lands it doesn't take long for the group to get on board and we take off again, looking for the radiation signs the kids should be giving off. Mitch had passed out upon seeing Abendegos, but then again I don't blame him. And with the added stress of the bio-drive in his head, it's understandable."

Once Mitch is settled I start to examine Clem and the baby since I was in charge of mother and child needs at the camp, even though I hadn't seen a pregnant woman since I worked up in New York some twelve years ago. Even so, we figured it would be better for Clem if I examined her instead of Abe. "Well, the baby is healthy. If it wasn't the only baby on the planet, I would say it was a textbook pregnancy."

"What about the CLM-protein?" Clem asks.

"And the stem cells from Abendegos' spinal fluid?" Jackson adds having come in once Clem and I were done and she was decent.

"As long as Clem's baby continues to develop normally, we should have enough CLM-protein to make our synthetic reproductive hormone."

"But?" Clem looks up to me.

"But I did find something unexpected when comparing the genetic samples from the new hybrids" I gesture over to one of the monitors and pull up the two genetic profiles. "Those shared markers prove that the woolly rhinoceros, winged hybrid, and Abendegos are related."

"Related?" Jackson looks to me, confused, "What if Abigail created the new hybrids using common DNA as a starting point?"

"What that means for us and ending sterility is that Abendegos' spinal fluid only has part of what we need. We need the stem cells from all the hybrids that share the genetic marker."

"How many are there?"

"Given the three samples Abe and I have seen, and their genetic variation, my best guess is that there are six breeds altogether."

"There are six new hybrids, and we need spinal fluid from each of them. How will we find them?" Clem sighs.

"I don't know. But if we want to stop this reproductive problem, we need to find a way."

I turn as I hear footsteps come up behind me and see Jamie coming up, "I think we've found the kids."

Logan nods, following her, "Yeah, radiation signatures are high upstate, so the kids should be there, and the Melvatox pills."

"Let's go get Isaac." Jackson looks over to me.

We head up to the conference room and look over some of the of the satellite photos around the compound. I notice a rather large road, "There's a service road here," I point to the screen just big enough for us to land."

Jackson nods, "From there, we head to the building. It's an old pharma research facility. It's the only place large enough to stash that many kids within 20 miles of the radiation spike we detected."

Logan looks over to us, "We don't know what kind of hostiles to expect. Abigail herself could be there."

I scoff, "What you aren't looking forward to that little reunion?"

Dariela nods, "So we go in the Southwest. More cover, no choke points."

"I got access to thermal imagining from the IADG satellite," Jamie walks over to the group and pulls up one of the imagines, and there is a large heat signature coming from the building, "This is from an hour ago."

"That's where Isaac is." Abe looks to the rest of the group, "It has to be."

The group looks to each other before getting ready to head out. It doesn't take long once the plan lands for us to move out. Everyone geared up in vests and guns, heading out to the compound. Once we are there we are able to fry the keycode lock on the door, opening it. Once we are in we head down to the bottom level, careful to clear every room and hallway we come across, looking for the children. Or Abigail, honestly, I'd be happy with either one, she may not be but…

As we search, we decide to split up, Jackson and I going one way, Jamie and Mitch going another, and Logan, Dariela, and Abe going the other. Jackson and I make a round of one side and meet Jamie and Mitch on the other.

"Anything?" I ask as we walk over to them.

Mitch shakes his head, "Empty."

"Same." Jackson sighs.

"This isn't possible," Jamie comments as she and Mitch walk past us, "There was heat-signature confirmation on our descent. How can there be no one here?"

I take a deep breath, "Let's keep looking."

As we continue our search we get to a room with a large tank inside of it. Mitch sighs once he sees the tank, "well, that looks oddly familiar."

I look over to Jamie and Mitch, "What is that?"

"It's a stasis tank." Jamie comments, "Just like the one Mitch was in."

"Then what is it doing here?"

Jackson looks around at a few of the tables in the room, "Wasn't Abigail dress as a cop in New York?" He picks up a police bomber jacket, "Logan said he took a shot at her. Well, it looks like he hit her." Jackson sighs as he raises his hand to his ear, "guys, we have confirmation that Abigail has been on-site."

Before long we hear Logan over the headset, "guys, we found the kids, second level. I've already called to get an evac."

I look over to Jackson and smile, sighing a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank god."

Of course, once Logan calls in we have found the children it doesn't take long for officers, EMTs, and reports to get here. Jackson, Jamie, Mitch, and I beat the other three outside and once Isaac sees Jackson and I he runs over, "Uncle Jackson! Anut Kat!"

Jackson hugs Isaac tightly, "Hey, buddy. Are you okay?"

Isaac nods, "yeah, I'm okay." Once Jackson lets go of Isaac I hug him tightly as well, "Thank you."

I smile and pull away from him, "For what?"

"Coming back to help find me and everyone else, and for helping my mom and dad keep trying."

"That's what families do." I smile brightly as Isaac before he gives me another tight hug.

Once he pulls away he looks over to Jackson, "and thanks for the Hybrid spike." He grins before running back to Abe and Dariela.

I look over to Jackson shocked, "You actually sent a ten-year-old a hybrid spike as a present."

"I cleaned it." Jackson protests.

"Jackson…" I sigh.

"Hey, he loved it. Isn't that the most important thing?"


	13. Stasis Tank

Once the kids are out, Jackson and I go back in to look over the things we found in the tank room. Before long though Mitch comes down, "Hey, Isaac's been cleared, we're getting out of here." He looks around at the men moving things out, "What are you two doing?"

"Well, Logan had to jump through a bunch of hoops to get the Feds to okay it," I turn to Mitch, "But we're taking this thing with us."

"Well, that's not the worst idea." Mitch nods, as he walks over to Jackson who is standing in front of the tank. "You know, I…"

Jackson nods, "I know that you lost ten years of your life to one of these things, Mitch, and you probably hate it."

I chuckle, "I don't think probably should be in that sentence, baby."

Jackson shrugs, "But if we can get under the hood, there is no telling what we can learn about Abigail."

Mitch sighs, "I'm more concerned with how you think you're going to get it back to the plane."

I walk over to Mitch and cross my arms, "Let's get Logan to do it." I smirked over at the boys and Mitch looks all too happy with the idea.

Unfortunately, Logan decided that he would not be coming with us, but was able to give us some new information on a new hybrid in Tarapoto Peru and we are able to get the tank on board as well.

When we get back to the plane, Clementine is waiting for us in the lab. "Did found the kids?"

"Yeah." Jamie smiles over to her, "So that's one in the win column, finally. I need to go see if that image of Mr. Ducan is finished processing."

Mitch leans against a table, "Yeah, I forgot to tell you, error message came up. Something about a corrupted file."

Jamie looks to Mitch, "I'll go check." She heads up the stairs.

Jackson walks over to me, "we should prep the gear for Peru."

I nod, "We're gonna need live rounds, no tranqs."

"We're going to Peru?" Clem questions.

"Yeah." I nod.

Mitch sighs, "We got intel on a new hybrid out there. We need some more spinal fluid. And with Abigail in the wind, it's pretty much our only play."

Clem shifts around from a moment, "Abigail was here."

"I'm sorry what?" I step toward her.

Jackson shakes his head, "What? What do you mean, Abigail was here?"

Mitch steps toward Clem as well, "Are you okay? She hurt you?"

"No, she didn't touch me, but, um, she got Abendegos. I'm so sorry," Clem looks between the three of us.

Jackson nods, "Okay, Clem, I need you to walk me through everything that she said."

Mitch clears his throat, "You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Clem nods.

Clem and Jackson head upstairs to talk until the plane lands. With nothing else to do while we wait for Jamie and Mitch to get back the Jackson starts to mess with the tank while listening to the radio. I have nothing better to do either so I start researching the tanks.

"Reiden Global claimed they took the children to cure sterility. If that was a lie, I want an explanation." A female report complains.

"At least yesterday there was hope - Hope for a cure…" a male reporter replies.

Jackson sighs, "the world is going to hell." He tosses a wrench down and it clatters on the pile of tools he has.

"It always was, honey. The end is just in sight now."

Abe and Clem walk into the room and look between the two of us, "Looks like it's going well." Abe comments.

Jackson shakes his head, "I can't get this thing to work. Abigail is constantly one step ahead of us, and we are running out of time. If we can just get this thing to power up,"

"we might be able to get to the data it has inside, find out where she's been, and where she's going." I walk over to Jackson and place a hand on his shoulder, trying to get him to relax, "I know, baby."

Abe walks over to the tank, "I've read studies about tanks like these, theories about how they work. A combination of experimental trauma treatment and induced hibernation. I never thought anyone had actually built one."

Clementine walks over to the control box of the tank and looks inside, "That vent is for airflow. The power supply system is just like an electric car. That thing is the electric control actuator. Now we just need to find the ignition coil." She looks around.

Jackson takes out the circuit tester in this tools, "Here, try the, uh, circuit tester."

I look over to Clem and notice she is acting like she is hurt as she reaches over to take the circuit tester from Jackson. "Clem, what's going on?"

Clem looks between the three of us, "Okay, so Abigail and I got into a bit of a catfight. But I'm fine. Really."

I shake my head, "I'll be the judge of that. Go take a seat."

"This is why I didn't want to tell you guys earlier." Clem walks over to one of the tables, "I don't want you worrying about me. You have your own stuff you should be focusing on."

I stop in front of Clem, "Clem, you're carrying the baby that could save the world. There's really nothing more important than you right now."

Clem sighs and Jackson walks over to my side, "I get it. Ten years ago, I was in your shoes."

Clem looks over to Jackson, "Pregnant."

Jackson shrugs, looking over to me, "kind of."

Clem looks over to me, "Oh, Kat. I'm sorry."

I shake my head, "it was probably for the best, can't really have a baby when you're living on the run."

Jackson nods, "But, I was carrying the cure inside my pressure, right?"

Clem nods, looking over to Jackson. "So what did you do when it all got to be too much?"

I look up to her, "Alcohol. Sex."

Clem gives me a rather odd look, "well, neither of those are really an opinion for me."

Jackson chuckles at the rather odd face Clem is making. "Having people around me that I could trust didn't hurt, either."

I look over Clementine, "hmm…"

"What?" Clem looks from Jackson to me

"I'm sure it's nothing. I will need to extract some blood though."

"I'll go grab the kit," Abe comments as he leaves the room.


	14. Incompatable

Once Abe comes back with the kit I take a sample of Clem's blood and Abe and I go run a few tests, when I get back into the Stasis Tank room Clem and Jackson are still with the tank, "Alright, I'm gonna adjust the charge, so get ready." Clem comments as she looks over the control box. She strengths up and looks over her shoulder to Jackson, "Did you check the camshaft sensor?"

Jackson nods, "Yeah, twice."

As Clem turns back around some of the cords crackles, "What are you do? This thing is overloading. Pull the fuse."

"Okay."

Clem turns back to Jackson, "Not the relay, pull the terminal. The whole thing."

Jackson lifts a hand, "Alright, I'm just a little lost here, I'm sorry. Maybe this." While I can't see what he did, it must have worked because the tank powers up. Jackson looks over to Clementine, "Hey, we did it." As Jackson turns back to the tank he sees me, "Kat, we got the data."

I smile and walk over to them, "I knew you two could do it."

Jackson and I look over all the different information on the screen, "Eight hours of cellular regeneration, hyper tissue mitosis."

I shake my head, "These records are exact details of what was done to her. I wonder what else this knows about Abigail."

Jackson nods and looks over to me, "So do I."

I take a deep breath, "But that will have to wait." I turn to look at Clementine, "We need to talk. I got your blood test results back. I need to run some more tests of you and the baby."

Clementine nods and the three of us head into the lab, where I get Clem hooked up to a monitor. "So what's wrong?"

"Your baby has HDF, hemolytic disease. It's a blood disorder. In short, your blood has mixed with the baby's, so your body is creating antibodies that are attacking the baby's blood."

"What do we do?"

"The baby's blood type is extremely rare. Abe and I called several blood banks, but it could take weeks to find a match. But, if we had the father's blood, we could do an exchange transfusion, literally replacing the baby's blood."

Clem nods, "His name is Sam Parker. We met about three months ago in Colorado, but I don't know where he's living now."

I look up to Jackson, "We have to do everything we can to find Sam. If we get his blood the baby will be fine."

Jackson steps over to Clem, "You need to tell us everything you know about him, and I'll start tracking him down."

I turn to one of the computers and start a search for Sam Parker, "Well, there are over a hundred Sam Parkers in 32 different states, including Alaska. You said you met him in Colorado?" I turn back to Clem as Jackson crosses over to me.

"Yeah, uh, he worked near the barrier. He was building homes for hybrid victims at, uh, the Hope Foundation."

"The Hope Foundation works all along the barrier, even into Canada and Mexico. Can you tell us more about him? Maybe we can figure out where he'd go?"

"He liked country music, drank gin, had a red Ford pickup. I don't know that's about it."

Jackson takes a deep breath, "Clem, we've been hurt too." he chuckles softly, "We know how it is."

"I, uh, was waiting for intel about a decommissioned Sheperd facility. That's when I met Sam. He had these kind eyes. Uh, we started talking and, I don't know, just kind of clicked. He asked me out on a date. The world being what it is, and this guy, he shows up with a bouquet of wildflowers and asks me out. Uh, we were together every day and night. Till I got confirmation that the Sheperd facility was somewhere in Eastern Europe. I had to go, it was the most solid lead I'd gotten in months."

"And you didn't want him to know." I nod.

Clem shrugs, "how would I even explain it? So I pulled a guy move and I snuck out in the middle of the night. I didn't leave a note. And I never looked back. Now I have to tell him that we're having a child together. I doubt he'll ever speak to me again."

Jackson looks over to me, "When he knows what's at stake," he looks back to Clementine, "I promise you, he will."

I sigh, "I'll keep looking, see if Logan can't help us or something."

Jackson nods and I go back to looking for this Sam Parker. After about an hour or so I get a hit and head out to find Clem. She and Jackson had been sitting and talking about in the living area, "Guys, I had Logan check the national PNC database. A 1988 red Ford pickup registered to a Sam Parker got a speeding ticket in Pittsburgh, yesterday."

Jackson looks over to Clem, "You said that's where his parent's live right?"

Clem nods, "yeah."

"We'll set a course for there after your dad and Jamie get back."

Clem shakes her head, "We don't know if he's still there."

Jackson scoffs, "I've had my heart broken. Home is where I'd go."

As soon as Jamie and Mitch get back Jackson heads to the vehicle bay to let them know what's going on and I stay with Clem, monitoring her and the baby. When the group comes back into the lab, Max Morgan is with them.

"Hey, Max." I smile.

"Mrs. Oz. How are you?" Max smiles. "So what's going on with Clem?"

I hand Max the notes I had on Clem and the baby, "Clem's blood and the baby's blood is incompatible."

Mitch scoffs, "how can you be so sure? I mean, no offense, but you're not a doctor."

"Please." Clem sighs. "What does this mean for the baby?"

"It won't survive if it doesn't get a blood transfusion, n the next three days."

Max looks up from the file, "Maybe less. Transfusion from the father is the only solution."

Jackson nods, "We are on our way to him now."

"We are? Great." Mitch sighs, "Who is this guy?"

"His name is Sam Parker," Clem nods, "Maybe after we cure sterility, we can all go to dinner and you can grill him then."

"We are flying to Pittsburgh to find him. But there is no guarantee we'll get to him on time."

Jackson shifts around, "No one wants to say it, but, uh what about the tank?"

"What?" Mitch raises his head, "No. Nope, that's not… that's not an option."

I cross my arms, "You kept you alive and in stasis for ten years. It may not cure the baby, but it will buy us more time. But we aren't the one who gets to make that decision." I look over to Clem.

"If it'll save my baby, I'll do it."

"Clem." Mitch sighs.

"Dad. I know you want to protect me. We're the only family we have left, but these people are our family too. They helped me find you and they brought us back together. They made sure you were safe and I know they'll do the same for me and this baby."

Once Clem made his decision, Jackson and I get the tank ready. When it's prepped and ready to go Clem gets ready to go in. "We will be here when you wake up," I give Clem a hug.

Jackson nods, before hugging Clem as well, "I'll find Sam. I promise."

"It's not good-bye." Clem chuckles, "I'm just unplugging for a bit. You don't have to be all sentimental."


	15. Minor Malfunction

After putting Clem into the tank the group goes about making sure we are ready to find Sam Parker. As I walk through the plane I find Jamie in the computer area of the lab. "Hey, Jamie, how are you doing?"

Jamie looks over to me, "Hey. How are you?"

"Well, since Mitch spent ten years in one of those tanks and his just fine, I keep reminding myself Clem is going to be okay too."

Jamie nods, "She'll be okay. The baby too. You and Abe know what you need to do to save Clem and the baby. We have three of the best scientists in the world on this plane."

I look over to the screen and see a molecule, "That's interesting. What crazy compound is Mitch working on now?"

"What do you mean?"

I point to the screen, "You see that sequence of covalent bonds? That's kind of like Mitch's signature. He even put it in the cure."

"You remember the molecule code for the cure? That was ten years ago, how can you remember that?"

"You have to remember, before Jackson and I left, I was working with Abe to cure sterility. I looked over that code sequence, about two million times."

"So you're positive it's Mitch's."

"There isn't a doubt in my mind, that's is Mitch's. See the bond angle and the spatial orientation. That's all him."

As I point out the similarity from the cure to this molecule, Max walks into the room, "What are you talking about ladies?"

Jamie looks over her shoulder, "Mitch's signature in the molecules he's worked on."

Max walks over to us and looks at the screen, "Oh yeah, he first used that in his High School science fair. It's kind of been his thing ever since. I don't even think it's intentional at this point." Max chuckles.

Jamie looks as if she's zoned out of a minute, "Excuse me." she comments before quickly getting up and walking out of the room.

I look over to Max, "I think we've had a stressful night."

Max nods, "I agree."

I smile and head out of the room, heading upstairs to the bedroom Jackson and I share. "Hey." I smile to Jackson as he sits on the bed, looking over the file we found on Sam Parker, even though there isn't much in it.

Jackson looks over to me for a moment, before looking back at the photo, "Hey. How are you?" Jackson turns off the tablet and looks over to me, smiling.

"Tired. Wide awake." I sit next to him on the bed. "How about you?"

"Just about the same. I don't think I'm gonna be able to sleep until we find this Sam Parker and save Clem and the baby." I chuckle softly as I lay back and Jackson looks over to me, "What?"

I shake my head, "Nothing… It's just I can imagine you being all worried if we had a child and they came home late or missed curfew."

Jackson chuckles, "What makes you think our child would do that?"

I smile, "Because they'd be ours'. And we are nothing but troublemakers ourselves. Can you imagine a tiny combination of us."

"Yeah, I can't argue with you on that one." Jackson lays down next to me, "You know what else they'd be though?"

"Hmm?"

Jackson smiles, propping himself up on his elbow, "They'd be smart and beautiful, just like their mama."

I chuckle, "and they'd be brave and caring, like their dad."

Jackson smiles as he leans down and kisses me, placing a hand on my check. As he does I place a hand on his forearm. "I love you, Katherine Oz."

"And I love you, Jackson Oz." As I smile up to Jackson he chuckles, "What?"

"Nothing, it's just good to hear our real names again, because you know," Jackson moves on top of me, "We haven't made love since we left Portland."

I giggle softly and wrap my arms around his neck, "Is that so."

Jackson and I spend the night together and in the morning, once we land, we head to the house of Sam Parker. When we get there a nice looking young man answers the door, at first I am a little confused since the man appears to be closer in age to Jackson and me, rather than Clem. "Hey, Can I help you?"

Jackson nods and smiles, "Hey, we're sorry to drop in on you like this, Sam. My name is Jackson and this is my wife Katherine, and uh, a friend of ours, Clementine Lewis, sent us."

Sam crosses his arms, "I'm sorry I don't…"

I take a deep breath, "I know what we are about to say will sound impossible, uh, but you were with Clem three months ago in Colorado and she's… well, she's pregnant."

Sam shakes his head, "I don't know Clementine."

Jackson looks to me then back to Sam. "I know you probably don't want to hear from her and I get that, but for what it's worth…"

"you don't understand. You have the wrong guy. I'm in the Air Force and I was stationed over at Ramstein, Germany for the past year. And If you're telling me some girl is pregnant then, I mean, that's amazing. But I could promise you it's not because of me. Um, Sam Parker is a common name. Maybe you wanna check…"

As Sam continues to speak there is a gunshot and he falls to the ground. I duck down and Jackson does with me, covering me before we look around. Seeing Abigail walk up the pathway. "Hello, brother. Sister-in-law. It wasn't easy hunting you down. You have something I need. It's time we finally got to know each other."

"Kat, run out the back." Jackson comments.

"What?"

"Don't ask questions just go, I'm the one she wants. I love you."

"I love you, too," knowing I don't have time to argue I turn and run out the back of the house and make my way back to the plane. It takes me about an hour to get back there on foot.

When I get back I run on to the plane and run into Abe. "Kat, what's wrong?"

"Abigail's got Jackson, Abe."

"What?"

"Sam Parker wasn't the right Sam Parker. Abigail she... She shot him and she took Jackson."

"Hey, Jackson will be fine. I promise. If we found Isaac, we will find Jackson." Abe pulls me into a hug as I try to contain myself.

We get the plane in the air so we can try to find Abigail and Jackson, but the plane his some major turbulence. Jamie walks into the living area. "Something's wrong with the main battery unit. Random malfunctions, navigational errors and the power is going out. The plane's trying to conserve its battery. It's going into safe mode."

Dariela walks in behind her, "Safe mode?"

"It basically just files in a circle until we fix the problem. It's probably just some faulty wiring, but give me a hand, will you?"

"Yeah."

I stand up, "can I help? I can't just sit here and think about Jackson."

Jamie nods, "Yeah, come on." Once we get into the hall Jamie turns to Dariela and I for a moment as we walk down the hall, "This is gonna sound weird, but do you know what I was doing last night?"

"Why can't you remember?"

" think I was with Mitch, but it's hazy."

"That's weird." Dariela looks over to Jamie.

"Honestly, I didn't see you last night."

Dariela shakes her head, "Neither did I. I was having a family reunion."


	16. AI

As we head down the hall we see what looks like green slime on the floor and wall. I look over Dariela and Jamie's shoulders, "What the hell?"

"Let's keep moving." Jamie looks to the two of us before we continue down the hall then down to the basement, "Access to the main battery unit's down here." Jamie walks over to a panel that is out of the wall and looks inside. Jumping back and reclosing the panel after a moment. "We have a problem." Once she closes the panel there is a loud thumping on the panel. The three of us waste no time getting everyone together, so we can make sure we are safe and find a way to get rid of the hybrid. Jamie calls to everyone over the P.A. "Everyone regroup in the galley. We have a hybrid on the plane."

Once we get to the galley I find one of the blueprints for the plane and I sighs, "Well, we found what's causing the power drain."

Jamie nods and walks over beside me as I lay out the blueprints, "a new hybrid wrapped around the main battery unit."

"It secretes some sort of fluid from its tentacles." Dariela looks over a sample of the green slim we found.

Abe takes the sample, "Some sea creatures have been known to generate a weak electrical field through the mucous membranes. Must be creating interference with the battery."

"What about power to Clem's tank?" Mitch askes.

"We should be good for now. Jamie and I diverted power from another battery."

Jamie nods, "If there are no more major malfunctions And that's a big if We'll have power for another two hours. Max, you're gonna have to wait a little longer to get home to Helsinki. In order to regain control of the plane, I need to reboot the entire system, and I can't do that with this creature wrapped around the battery."

Abe nods, "There may be another option. We create a weak beacon signal, pinpoint the creature and draw it out into the open."

Dariela shakes her head, "It's too dangerous. We can't risk it being loose on the plane."

I look over to Abe, "Dariela and I can access the service duct in the vehicle bay and come at it from the rear."

Dariela nods, "We'll kill the hybrid. You guys reboot the plane."

Abe looks over to me, "A spinal fluid draw from a live subject would be the best option."

"Abe."

"Look, I know this is dangerous, but we only have two hybrids left."

I sigh and nod, "And since the two previous samples came from deceased hybrids, the serum may not be efficient. Solving sterility may depend on getting the spinal fluid while it's still alive."

Mitch nods, "She's right."

"But none of that will matter if we can't keep this plane in the air. So, we'll clear the hybrid using nonlethal means if possible. Someone's gonna need to stay here and prep the system for reboot."

Mitch raises his head, "Uh, Max and I will do that."

Jamie looks over to them, "Great. Abe, final step. You need to throw the master switch. It's in the bar, behind the control panel."

Abe nods, "Okay."

"And the comms are down, so everyone needs an earpiece."

Once we have our earpieces Dariela and I get ready to head to the vehicle bay. Loading a few guns when Abe comes in, "Are you sure you want to be using live ammunition?"

"Don't worry." Dariela looks up to Abe momentarily, "I had the fuselage reinforced."

As we continue getting ready the plane rumbles and one of the tablet's starts beeping, "Okay, let's move."

Dariela and I get to the vehicle bay and start to pull out some of the panels to get to the air shaft we need to. "This is all we do." Dariela sighs.

"What?" I glance over to her.

"Danger. Whenever we're on this plane, all we do is go from danger to more danger. Finally saved Isaac, and I put him right back into it."

"Come on. You're just doing the best you can."

"Am I? Is this where I want him to grow up?"

"We're all trying to make sure that there's a world for him to grow up in."

Dariela nods before we open the air shaft and see the tentacles of the hybrid in the air shaft. "What was that?" Dariela runs to the door, trying to open it, "it's locked."

I look down, as the tablet begins beeping, "More Malfunctions." As Dariela starts down the stairs a message comes across the screen, reading, 'Bay Door Failure.' I look up to Dariela, "Hey, hey. Grab onto something."

"What?"

"Grab onto something!" As Dariela gets to me the vehicle bay door opens and we grab the handrails in front of us. I look over and see that Dariela is about two feet away from the manual bay door control. "Can you reach the door control?"

Dariela looks behind her and reaches for the control. Dariela grabs the control and pulls up but nothing happens, "It's not working."

"Mitch! Jamie!" I shout.

"Abe, get down here! Abe!"

Abe seems to be the only one who hears us and soon we hear him over the headset, "Dariela! Kat!"

I look back at the cargo door, "You have to bypass the control panel! Cut the blue wire! And then the green wire!"

"How do you know this?!" Dariela shouts.

"Do you really wanna question how I know how to bypass the control panel right now?!"

Abe calls out, "Okay. I got it."

"Now put them together!"

"This isn't working." Abe comments.

"Was it the dark green or the light green?!"

"Why are there two greens?!"

"Good question! Maybe Jamie and I will fix that if we don't die!"

The plane rumbles and Logan comes on over the P.A. "Aircraft Emergency A.I. activated. Greetings Mitchell Morgan."

I look over to Dariela, "Is that Logan?!"

"I think he's the voice of the A.I."

"Alert. There's a critical malfunction in the vehicle bay."

"Oh look at that! Even as an A.I. he's behind."

"Abe!" Dariela shouts again. Out hands and arms getting tired from holding on against the strong, rough wind.

Soon the bay door closes and the doors unlock. Dariela and I grab the other one as Abe comes down the stairs, "Are you two alright?"

Dariela looks over to me, the two of us panting, "Great."

Mitch and Max come into the vehicle bay about this time, followed by Jamie, "What's with the disembodied Logan voice?" Mitch complains. "It's weirding me out. You two said there was a problem here?"

I look up to the three of them, "Where were you? We needed you."

"We couldn't hear you because our earpieces are broken." Mitch turns to Jamie, "Anyway. Logan. Explain."

Jamie sighs, walking down the stairs to Dariela and I, "It's the emergency A.I. system. Back when we were together, we thought it would be funny to have him be the voice of it. I disabled it ages ago, but it must've come back on with all the malfunctions."

"Hello," Logan speaks over the P.A. "I have an unfortunate announcement. Aircraft systems down to only essentials. Engines and avionics only."

"Engines and avionics?" Max questions.

I look over to Jamie, "Clem's tank. We have to get down there. She could lose power."

Mitch rushes off into the plane and we all follow, Jamie calling out to him, "Mitch wait."

"I'm going down there right now, I'm taking Clem out of that tank."

Abe shakes his head, "No, you must not. She still needs a blood transfusion from the baby's father. If you take her out of the tank now, the baby may die."

"If we do nothing, they both die"

I stop Mitch, "Look, we all love Clem, but that baby is the key to humanity's future."

"We are talking about my daughter here."

Abe steps forward, "My son is on this plane, too. Abigail has Jackson god knows where. But this is bigger than all of us!"

Dariela steps in front of Abe, "Calm down. We just need to figure out what to do."

Logan speaks over the P.A. again, "May I suggest using one of the auxiliary generators?"

Mitch looks around, "Are we gonna start taking suggestions from DJ Logan now?"

Max looks over to Jamie, "Hold on. What Auxiliary generator?"

"If we create an independent power loop, this could actually work." Jamie looks over to Max.

Logan speaks again, "The tank will lose power in five minutes."

"This might be our only option," I look over to Mitch, who looks like he's about to pass out, "Mitch? You all right?"


	17. Tentacles

Once we are down in the tank room, Jamie and I start to get things ready to make sure the tank keeps its power no matter what. I walk over to Abe and Dariela, handing them bolt cutters, "Abe, Dariela, cut the cable directly in front of you."

Jamie goes over to Max and Mitch, "At the exact same moment, Mitch, Max, connect your cables together."

"30 seconds until the tank loses power." A.I. Logan informs us.

"Can we shut him off, please?" Mitch complains.

"Everybody ready?" I look from the boys to Abe and Dariela.

Everyone nods and Jamie takes a deep breath as she and I walk over to the tank to flip the switches we need to, "Okay, on three. One… two… three."

The electricity crackles and goes out for a moment then comes back on, "Power successfully rerouted. Critical power loss imminent. Avionics failure imminent. Engine failure imminent. Critical altitude loss imminent."

The plane starts to rumble again and I sigh, "We need to kill that hybrid. Now."

Abe nods, "Jamie, let me modify the beacon signal, draw the hybrid off the battery so you can reboot the system. I know the risks, but we're out of time."

"Full engine failure in ten minutes," Logan informs.

Jamie nods, "Okay you have five. Once the hybrid is off the battery, I'll reboot the system. Mitch, Max, go to the bar and be ready to throw that switch when I tell you."

Mitch nods, "You had me at, go to the bar."

"Warning: there's a malfunction in the forward reserve tank. Detecting a fuel leak."

I sigh, "Perfect. We can't use firearms now."

Dariela looks over to me, "then how are we suppose to kill it?" Dariela looks up to Abe, "We are killing it."

I look over to Jamie and smile as Jamie nods, "Come Dariela, I know something I think you'll like."

Dariela and I head back to the vehicle bay and I open one of the cabinets, showing Dariela Jamie's large collection non-firearm weapons. Dariela smiles, "Happy Birthday to me."

Dariela and I grab a few weapons and head back into the lab, walking in on Jamie and Mitch kissing. "Uh.. guys…" I call out, "Not sure if this is payback and as much as I hate to break up this lovefest, but…"

I am cut off by A.I. Logan. "Full energy failure in seven minutes."

Jamie nods, "okay, get to the master switch."

Mitch nods, heading off with Max to the bar. As Dariela and I head over to Abe. Dariela tosses Abe a weapon, "Ready?"

"Ready." Abe nods.

Soon we hear Mitch over the earpiece, "Okay, Jamie. We're in position."

I speak over mine as well, "We are in position too."

Abe looks over Dariela and I, "Once I press this, that hybrid will be coming straight for us."

Dariela smirks back to me, then up to Abe, "We're good."

I nod, "Trust me. I'm in the mood to kill something right about now and if it happens to be one of my sister-in-law's hybrids, that's even better."

Dariela nods and speaks over the earpiece, "Jamie, we'll let you know as soon as the hybrid's loose."

Before long we hear Logan over to P.A. again, "Main battery unit is back online."

"Okay, Abe, Dariela, Kat, the hybrid is off the battery. I'm starting the reboot."

"Copy." Abe comments. "But there's still no sign of it."

Just as Abe turns to Dariela and I a tentacle comes up and grabs Abe around the waist, pulling him back. "Abe!" Dariela and I shout. We run after Abe as he is pulled away, finally the hybrid stops moving and holds Abe against one of the false walls.

"The master switch is still in the off position. Manual restart required." Logan announces.

I look over to Dariela, "Where the hell is Mitch and Max?"

"Losing altitude. Prepare for emergeny procedures."

Abe stabs the hybrid with the syringe needle he was doing to us to extract its spinal fluid. When he does it shrieks and lets him go. As Abe gets away the hybrid grabs Dariela, "Dariela!" Abe and I shout as Dariela screams. As I go to help Dariela I am grabbed as well, as I look around a kick the sword Dariela had over to her, while Abe cuts the tentacle that had grabbed him again and Dariela and I do the same to the ones that have us. Continuing this with tentacles that come after us once we are free. Finally, Abe is able to throw the ax he is using at the hybrid, killing it.

"What is this thing?" I walk over to it, as Abe takes a fluid simply from one of the tentacles, "some kind of squid?"

"Aircraft will cross the minimum recovery altitude in 90 seconds. Prepare for emergency landing."

Dariela looks to Abe, "Isaac."

The three of us run out to the main area of the plane, Abe runs to get Isaac as Dariela and I strap in. Once Abe gets back with Isaac they do the same. "Minimum recovery altitude in 60 seconds. 50 seconds. 40 seconds. Minimum recovery altitude in 30 seconds." Isaac clings to Abe and Dariela. "20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, ten, nine, eight…" the countdown stops and it feels like the plane starts to rise again. Once we are level, we unbuckle and look for the others.

Then I find Max, he is helping Jamie, who is sitting on the couch upstairs. "Are you two okay?"

"Yeah, Kat. We're fine." Jamie nods.

I look around, "Where is Mitch?"

Max turns to me, "Mitch is gone. He is not on the plane."


	18. Faith

After making sure that Jamie and Max are okay and learning that Mitch is gone, even though I'm not sure how, we are on a plane thousands of feet in the air, so my hopes are not too high. I head down to help Abe clean up the lab. When I get to the lab Abe is checking on the samples as Dariela walks in.

"The tank kept Clem safe."

Abe nods and turns to her. "Somehow the spinal fluid survived. We can still make the cure."

I turn to Dariela and see she has a suitcase, "You're leaving?"

Dariela nods, "Yeah, we are. Me, Abe, and Isaac." Dariela looks over to Abe, "I packed your bag."

I shake my head, "Where is this coming from?"

"Do you even have to ask? Look around you. Look at what I am putting my son through. When those men took our son, we had to watch them drive away with Isaac in a cage, like some animal. That was the worst moment of my life… until today. Today, I thought I was gonna watch my son die because of my decision, because of something I did." Dariela begins to cry, as I step toward her she looks up, "It isn't safe here. We cannot make Isaac part of this."

Abe shakes his head, "What about the cure? We're so close…"

"Let them figure it out. Please, Abe."

"I can't. Kat can't figure this out on her own, even with Mitch."

I clear my throat, "Yeah, I would be alone. Mitch isn't on the plane."

"Dad?" We hear Isaac call out as he walks down the stairs.

Abe turns to him, "Come here." Abe holds out his arms and Isaac jumps off the step into him, "You and Mommy are going to go home first, then I'm going to join you when I can. I want you to make me a promise, that you'll be a good boy and look after your mother."

Isaac nods, "I promise, Daddy."

Abe smiles, "Good boy."

Dariela takes a deep breath and hugs Abe, "Be careful, Abe. We need you back once you're done saving the world."

I smile over to Dariela and then down to Isaac, "Don't worry. I'll make sure he comes back in one piece."

Dariela smiles over to me and hugs me. Once she does Isaac does as well. Dariela tries to hold back tears, "Come on. Let's go."

Once Dariela and Isaac are out of the room Abe turns to me, "You mean you'll come back in one piece if Jackson does."

I shake my head, "I couldn't lose both of you. So you're coming back in one piece either way. Abigail on the other hand, she'd better pay to whatever God she believes in that I never get my hands on her."

Before long we land in Prague, Dariela and Isaac take this chance to get off the plane and get another back to the states. I need to take a break on trying to find Abigail through every face recognizing software I could get my hands on to try and find Jackson. When I head into the computer room to start looking again, Jamie is on one of the computers.

"I don't know where he's going, but I got a hit on his cell phone right before it went dead. Okay, then I need Sat-4 covering West of the Spandauer Forest and Sat-9 watching everything south till Brandenburg. Both running facial recognition. Well, half that and I'll double the pay."

I take a deep breath, getting Jamie's attention, "That's impressive."

"Well, when you spend a decade chasing after people who don't want to be found, you pick up a few things. Have you find anything on Jackson yet?"

I sigh and shake my head, "No. The one time I can't count on him to just show up."

"We'll find him. Mitch, too." We hear Abe from the doorway.

"Will me? All of them?" I turn to Abe. "Clem is floating in a tank. Jackson was kidnapped. Mitch is gone. Dariela wised up and got out of here."

Abe walks toward me and places his hands on my shoulders, "We'll get them back. When Dariela left I could've left with her. In fact, I probably should have. But you know why I didn't? Faith. Faith in our mission. Faith in our team. Faith that we are doing the right thing. And we are the only ones who can."

I take a deep breath, "Oh, but, Abe, I wish I felt that way. I wish I had your conviction. But what if faith isn't enough?"

Jamie takes a deep breath, the both of us fighting back tears, "I'm gonna, uh, keep looking for Jackson and Mitch. I'll let you know if I find anything. You two get some rest."

Abe and I head to our rooms, I don't know about Abe but I can't get much sleep. The bed feels too big and empty without Jackson next to me. The next morning I wake up and head down to the lab to start cleaning up. It isn't long before Abe comes down and starts helping me. About an hour later Logan comes onto the plane, leading a man in cuffs.

"Logan." I look to him, shocked and confused, "What are you doing here?"

"Jamie called in a favor."

"Who is he?"

"This is the Shepherd who's going to help us find Mitch, which will hopefully lead us to Jackson." Jamie walks down the stairs. "Do you know who I am?"

The Shepherd nods, "Jamie Campbell. Got rich selling other people's stories. Now you spend your nights chasing after those that you exploited."

"Sit down. Jared MaCavey, former Shepherd. You ran security for the Applied Science Division. And you've been living in New England since Pangaea fell."

"Alissa Graham. Peter Runge. David Hall. All my friends, all in federal prison because of you."

I chuckle softly, "oddly enough, if you can believe it she doesn't care and neither do we. But we wouldn't have a problem arranging a nice reunion for you guys."

Jamies nods, "Or you can talk to us."

Logan steps toward Jared, "Abigail used to be one of you and then she went rogue. What she's planning with the hybrids it'll undo everything that you Shepherds have been working for. Now, we know that you've been looking for her. We know how to find her."

"How?" Jared looks over to Logan curious.

"One of the bio-drives that you created, Abigail has made a few modifications." Jamie tilts her head for a moment, "She's using one to control my friend, Mitch Morgan."

"You've been hunting us like dogs for a decade. Your boyfriend goes AWOL, you come crawling to me, a Shepherd, praying for help. I hope he ends up like the rest of the bio-drive subjects, choking to death on his own vomit."

Having had enough of this games and tired of the rage running through me because of Abigail and Robert, I punch Jared knocking him out of the chair. Leaning over him and grabbing his collar, "Start talking!"

"Katherine! Katherine! Stop!" I hear Logan call out.

"Stay out of this!"

"That's enough! Katherine!" Logan shouts again, pulling me off of Jared.

"What are you going?" I hear Abe shout as he runs in.

"Do you really think the other Shepherds are going after Abigail? Who's left?! Who's gonna stop her?" Jamie looks from me to Jared.

Abe nods, "You know, she's right." he looks from Jamie to Logan. Then down to Jared, "If we're both going to get what we want, we're going to have to start working together."

Jared nods as Logan lets me go and helps him back up into the chair. "Okay. okay. I'll get you the tech stuff you need to-to find Mitch and you'll let me walk free with Abigail. No strings."

Jamie nods, "The priority is Mitch."

I take a deep breath, "If Abigail is there, we get her for a conversation. And then she's all yours."

"Deal" Jared nods.

"Let's go, okay." Abe nods.

Jamie and I stay with Jared, for about an hour or so before one of Logan's men come in to take our place. When I get into the lab I hear Abe, Logan, and Mitch talking. I listen for a moment before walking over to them, "what about anti-pathogenic?"

Abe turns to me, "Max's research is to be believed, this enzyme seems to be able to weaken, if not destroy, all pathogens: bacterial, viral, toxigenic."

Logan looks over to Abe, "What about spores?"

Max nods, "Spores? Yeah, I see no reason why it wouldn't have a similar effect."

Logan nods, "Okay, I need everything that you have on this enzyme ASAP." Logan turns and heads out of the lab as Abe and I look to each other.

"Well, you heard the man." I roll up my sleeves, "Let's get to it."

As I get to work Max chuckles, "You know Katherine, you are a lot like me."

"How so?"

"When I need to keep my mind busy, I keep my hands busy. I focus on something I know I'm good at.


	19. Coffee

Jared had finally given us the information we needed on how to track Mitch and Max got straight to work on reprogramming an old phone that Jared had on him. The rest of us can do little but wait for him to get done. We have little else to do, we are putting all of our faith into finding Abigail when we find Mitch, and if we find Abigail, we find Jackson. Soon, after what feels like hours Max lifts his head from the table.

"Okay. That ought to do it."

"Is it gonna work?" I ask stepping up next to Max.

Jared signs. "It'll work. This thing was specifically designed for tracking and maintenance of the original bio-drive test subjects."

I roll my eyes and look over to Jared, "For your sake, it'd better work."

Max looks back to the group than to the device, "Shall I do the honors?" Max starts up the device and it begins to beep rapidly. As we look up to the computer it is connected to, it is founding on Copenhagen. "Ah!" Max exclaims.

"Copenhagen?" Abe questions.

Jamie smiles over to Max, then to me, "We'll be wheels up in five."

Once we are up, it doesn't take us long to get to Copenhagen. While we are in the air I look over myself in on of the mirrors. "What is it?" I hear Jamie ask from the doorway.

I turn to her, "Just waiting to see how long it'll be before someone recognizes me."

"Kat, you were working with hundreds of people for years and no one recognized you or Jackson."

I nod, "Yeah, but we are moving traveling all over and I'm going by my real name again. There aren't that many blondes by the name of Katherine Oz, out there."

"Yeah, I guess, you've got a point."

I turn back to the mirror, "I don't know, I think after over ten years with the same look I just need something different."

"Running around the world again isn't enough of a change for you?"

I shake my head, "Given what Jackson and I were doing, the only things that changed is locations."

"I guess you're right about that too." Jamie crosses her arms and leans against the door frame, "What are you thinking then?"

I shrug my shoulders, "Once everything calms down I'm thinking of changing my hair. What would you think of me going back to my natural color?"

"What is your natural color?"

"I'm naturally a brunette."

Jamie looks around and nods, "if you want I can always dye your hair. We don't have any hair dye, but when I was a teenager I used coffee to dye my hair brown once." I chuckle softly and shake my head. "Come on, it'll give us something to do. I promise I won't destroy your hair."

I cave and let Jamie do my hair, I don't know if it was to keep my mind busy or to help keep her busy. But either way, we are both distracted while we fly to Copenhagen. By the time Jamie is done, we have landed, and I have brown hair. I haven't been a brunette since I was sixteen years old, but I loved the blonde so much I found a way to keep it, even when living in Africa, trying to save the world, and being on the run in Portland. When Jamie and I come down to get ready to head out, Abe is a little shocked by my change in look, and come to think of it, I don't think Jackson's ever seen me as a brunette, other than in some old photographs.

Once we land and locate the compound Mitch is in, we go in guns blazing. Storming into the compound, forcing doors open or shooting them open, whichever we had to do. Once we walk into a room, we see a revealing a mixed-race young man tied to a chair, his hood up and tape over his mouth. I walk over and slowly take the tape off.

"Who are you?" the young man asks.

"Who are you?" I ask as I step back.

"My name is Sam Parker. Please, you have to help me out of here."

"Sam Parker? Clem Lewis' Sam Parker?" I look to the man a little confused.

"You know Clementine? Is she here?"

I shake my head, "Is there anyone else here?"

"Uh, just the, uh, the crazy lady who grabbed me. I think her name is Abigail."

Jamie steps up next to me, "Was there anyone with her?"

"Some other guy."

Jamie and I move our gaze to Abe, who is standing behind Sam. "I need to take him to the plane. Clementine is with us. She needs your help."

"What's wrong?" Sam stands as Abe cuts his bonds.

"I'll explain on the way." Abe looks to Jamie and I, "Are you sure, you're going to be okay with…"

Jamie cuts him off, "Yeah, we'll be fine."

Abe nods before he and Sam head out the way we came in, and the rest of the group heads further into the building. As we head down the hall, Jamie and I leading, with Jared and Max behind us, I hear Jared complain, "Watch where you're pointing that thing, please."

"Oh sorry," Max replies.

"Hey," I snap at the two of them, "Focus." The device Jamie is holding starts to beep, rapidly. When we walk into a rather large room I turn to my right and see Jackson laying on the floor, "Jackson." I gasp and hurry to his side, "Jackson, Hey."

Jackson opens his eyes slowly, "Kat?"

I nod and smile, "Yeah."

"You changed your hair."

I chuckle, "Yeah, I did."

"I like it." Jackson sits up.

I help him up, "What happened?"

"The beacons. Abigail's gonna activate them."

Jamie takes a deep breath, "have you seen Mitch."

"Yeah. Yeah. I've seen him, but it's not Mitch."

I nod, "Yeah, we know."

Jamie looks around, "Macavey. Where's Macavey?"

Jackson looks over to me, "Who's Macavey."

I shake my head, "We have to go."

Jamie nods and we head out. As we walk through the compound, still looking for Mitch, Jamie's device keeps beeping rapidly. "What the hell is that thing?" Jackson asks.

"It's tracking Mitch's bio-drive." Max comments.

As we turn down a long hallway a man steps out at the other end and starts shooting. The four of us duck down, turn, and run, back to the end of the hall. Jamie leans against the wall, shouting, "Mitch? Mitch, I know you're in there. Please, don't do this."

Jackson sighs, "Okay, we need a new plan."

"Here," Jamie hands me the device.

"Ja… Jamie!" Jackson shouts as she rounds the corner. "Don't do it, Mitch. Don't do it." Jackson shouts again as he, Max, and I step out to see Jamie walking toward him with her hands up.

"You think I won't shoot you?"

Jamie shakes her head, "I think you're out of ammo. I counted 17 rounds. Unless I'm mistaken."

I cringe as I see Mitch pull the trigger one more time, but to my surprise, I hear a dry click, followed by Jamie grunting as she knocks Mitch to the ground. Jackson, Max, and I walk over to her, "that was amazing."

Jamie sighs, "I never thought he'd pull the trigger."

Jackson hands a cylinder to Jamie, "I was trying to tell you that Abigail used this to activate the bio-drive. I'm pretty sure it turns it on and off."

I look over to him, "Then why didn't you press it."

As Jackson goes to answer, Jamie cuts him off, "So we can get rid of Duncan."

"I hope so," Jackson sighs. "Look, we have to find Abigail now."

Jamie nods, "Yeah, Kat, go with him we can cover more ground that way."

Max nods, "And I'll help you with Mitch."


	20. Sister-In-Law

Jackson and I continue on into the building, looking through ever room we can find, "There's got to be a control room here somewhere."

I nod, "This is place is a maze."

"Alright, we got to split up. I'm gonna take down stairs, you take upstairs." Jackson looks over to me.

I nod, "Okay."

Jamie takes a deep breath, before placing his hands on my cheeks and giving me a kiss, "I love you."

"I love you too." I smile before the two of us head to our separate floors. I head upstairs as quickly as I can. As I make my way through the rooms I hear gunshots and against my better judgement I run toward the sound.

When I get to the room the gunshots came from I look inside and see Macavey holding a gun on Abigail, "Don't make me ask you again. What are you planning on doing with the hybrids?"

"Even if you knew, there's no stopping it."

"Wrong answer."

I know that Macavey wants Abigail died as much as I do, but we still need her. I rush into the room and tackle Macavey to the ground, fighting with him for a moment. Sadly, Macavey trips me when I get up and I fall to the ground, but before I know it, I hear a gunshot and Macavey falls to the ground.

I look up in shooked to see Abigail holding a gun, "don't look at me like that. I didn't save you because I care."

I shake my head, "Of course not, you saved me because you're not done with Jackson yet and you can use me to get to him." I stand and sigh, "Well, I didn't save you because I love my sister-in-law, either."

I run toward Abigail knocking her into the wall behind her, punching her a few times before she kicks me away. As she rushes toward me, I move to the side, kneeing her in the stomach. As I do Abigail elbows me in the head. As I straighten up I do the same to her, since I had to jump up slightly to do this, with Abigail and I begin the same height, she takes the opportunity to tackle me to the ground, landing a few good punches of her own, before I wrap my legs around her head and pull her down. Since my calves are in her face, Abigail bites into the back of my right calf and I yell in pain, releasing my leg lock on her head. Since I am already on my stomach I am able to jump up and catch Abigail, who is facing away from me, as she gets up. Before she can turn around, I grab a handful of her hair and slam her head into the A.C. vent on the wall. Knocking her out.

As I lay her down, Jackson runs in, "Are you okay?"

I shrug, "I just beat the crap out of one Abigail Westbrooke, so yeah, I'd say I'm doing pretty good."

"Is she alive?"

"Does it matter?"

Jackson nods, turning Abigail over, "She is a Hybrid. So we need a live spinal fluid sample."

I shake my head, "She's a what?"

Jackson starts to take a spinal sample, but something seems off. Once he gets the sample, he checks her pulse. "No, no, no."

"What?" I kneel next to Jackson.

Jackson shakes his head and places his head to his ear, "hey, guys, we need help here. We got Abigail here, but she's in bad shape. We were trying to get a spinal sample fluid, but… Guys, We need help. We need help now." Jackson looks over to me as if he is terrified.

"Copy that, help is on the way," Jamie replies over the headset.

"We need to start compressions." I roll Abigail over and start CPR. I scoff and shake my head, "Saving the woman I've been yearning to kill. Ironic."

It doesn't take long for the other's to reach us. When they do Mitch seems to be himself again. We get Abigail loaded into one of the trucks we took to the compound and head back to the plane. "We got to get her into the lab," Jackson comments as he pulls Abigail out of the truck, no one particularly eager to help him.

Max, however, is the one to cave and help him, "Remind me again, how many people this Abigail woman has killed?"

"Not now, Max." Jackson sighs as the two head up the stairs in the cargo bay and into the plane.

I follow behind Jackson and Max, "We need to turn this place into a triage unit if we want to save her life." I hurry over to one of the tables and clear it, by knocking everything else onto the floor, lucky for me, none of it is glass. When it is cleared Jackson and Max lay Abigail on it.

Jackson turns to me, "I'm gonna go get Abe."

I nod, "Go."

Jackson rushes off as Max and I get Abigal set up and I start to get her stable. It doesn't take long for Abe and Jackson to get to the lab, "I found her after Kat had put a royal beating on her."

Abe looks over to me, "Well, I can't say I'm not proud of you."

I shake my head, "What can I say, I'm a sucker for family." I smile at Abe sarcastically, "But when Jackson extracted her spinal fluid and her heart rate dropped."

Abe looks over to Jackson, "Why would you do that?"

Jackson sighs, "Because, Abigail is the final hybrid we've been looking for."

Max looks over to Jackson, surprised, "Well that changes things."

"So we're saving her life now." Abe sighs, "Why?"

"When Abigail held me captive, she said something about 'the hybrids will rise.' Now, she failed to set off her beacons, but there's more to her plan, Abe, I know it."

"And now, you want to revive her in the hopes that she's going to tell you."

"Yes"

"She's a terrorist. She's killed hundreds of innocent people."

I sigh, "I've barely got a pulse here guys."

Jackson takes a deep breath, "I need you. I need your help, Abe."

Abe straightens up, "I was a soldier before I was a doctor. I've seen close-up what people like Abigail can do. Maybe the world is better off without her."

"I know what she is, I know what she's done, I don't care. We are saving her life, end of story."

Abe nods in agreement and helps me to stabilize Abigail. Once she is stabilized Mitch and Max take over to do whatever surgery Abigail needs.

When Abe got back to the plan with Sam he had to accelerate Clem's pregnancy. Apparently, the transfusion didn't work as it should have. Sam had also been lying and he was working with Abigail so Jackson had locked him up in the cage in the basement. When Jackson and I hear Sam yelling downstairs, we head down to talk to him.

Jackson walks a few steps in front of me, "Sam, we know you're working with Abigail. We need you to tell us what she was planning."

Sam takes a shaky breath, "She was planning to stop you."

I shake my head and lean again the wall, "Stop us from what?"

"Activating beacons. Waking hybrid nests you've planted."

Jackson turns to me, "Wow. She's really done a number on him." Jackson turns back to Sam, "Sam, you have this entire thing backward."

"I was there when you let the Razorbacks loose on Pangaea. My father was dead before I could get to him. My mother died in my arms. I was ten-years-old. Abigail helped raise me after that. I've known her my entire life. I trust her. I don't know you. There's only one person on this plane I'll listen to. And she's floating in a tank."


	21. Spinal Fluid

Jackson and I head back up to the lab and find Abe. Jackson and I start to go through the data from the tank Abigail had been in, trying to find a way to help Clem. Abe comes after the two of us had been looking at this information for about twenty minutes, so my brain wasn't reading the information anymore.

"What are you two up to?"

I sigh, "Looking over all the data from Abigail's tank."

"I can't make any sense of it and it's too much for Kat to go through alone." Jackson shakes his head, "Abe, we need your help. Please." Abe looks down and shakes his head, "I am asking you, please."

Abe nods and stands up since he had been leaning on one of the tables, "Whatever information you two hope to get from Abigail had better be worth it." Abe glances over to me and motions for me to sit next to him, "let's sift through this." As I do Abe pulls up the information.

"Search for anything concerning internal organs." I look over to Abe, who nods and starts searching.

Abe nods and he searches, "considering she's a hybrid, there may be differences we need to know about."

As Abe and I look over the information, Max comes in, "I got her MRI results back. We found the leak." Max pulls up the MRI and displays it on the larger computer monitors, "Right there on the left."

As I look over the MRI and computer beeps and Abe answers, "Dariela."

"Abe." Dariela appears on the monitors above. "The IADG just found hybrid nests hidden all over the world, and they're incubating."

I sigh, "Well, that explains all the beacons."

Jackson shakes his head, "How much time until they hatch?"

Dariela shrugs, "The scientists here think soon. Logan's in Seoul now dealing with one. Every species of hybrid are in these nests. If they hatch, we're talking thousands of new ones we have to fight."

Max draws a deep breath, "Get these results to Mitch." He hands the tablet to me "Excuse me a second."

Once Max is gone Abe sighs, "I was reluctant to save Abigail before. But now, I know what it will take to save her. The cost is too high."

Jackson looks to Abe confused, "What cost?"

I take a deep breath and nod, "We have to replace what we took."

Jackson shakes his head, "What? You mean put the spinal fluid sample back?"

I shake my head, "no, no, no, thank god." I chuckle softly as I stand holding my hands out to Jackson.

"But, she had internal injuries. And she lost more spinal fluid than you extracted." Abe looks up to me then to Jackson. "And because she shares DNA with all the hybrids, we need to synthesize a replacement with all the samples we obtained."

Jackson sighs, "The samples we need to make the cure?"

Abe nods, "Yes. Either we save your sister, or save mankind."

Jackson nods and looks around, "Dariela said the nests contain every type of hybrid, correct?"

I cross my arms and look over to Jackson, "What are you thinking?"

Jackson looks to Abe then me, "Use the spinal fluid to save Abigail. I'll get more." Jackson pauses. "We're going to Seoul."

Jackson leaves the room and after a minutes or two I follow him, heading upstairs, finding him in the living room area of the plane. "Are you sure you want us to save Abigail? I mean what if we can't get more samples, what if Dariela's intel is wrong and all the hybrids aren't in the nests?"

Jackson chuckles, "You know if Dariela heard you say that, she'd probably punch you."

"Jackson this isn't funny. This is mankind's' future we are talking about. Our future. We can't throw that away to save Abigail."

"She's my sister Kat. She's the only family I have left."

"Jackson you know that's not true. Every person on this plane is your family… Even Sam, but you know… extension." I pause from a minute, "What's this really about?"

Jackson sighs, "You remember in Portland how I could control the lions with the clicker, Abendegos smashed?"

"The thing that saved our lives about a thousand times, yeah I vaguely remember."

"And how after the clicker was destroyed I could still control the lions." Jackson clears his throat, "What if I told you that wasn't how I controlled the lions… What if I told you I had a connection with the lions."

I look at Jackson confused, "I don't understand."

"Do you remember how the mutation made the animals scared of humans with it." I nod as Jackson continues, "Well, I think the synthetic version my father gave me, gave me the ability to control the animals."

I chuckle and shake my head, "You're very funny…" After a moment I reason Jackson isn't kidding, "Oh my, God. You're serious."

Jackson nods, "Yeah."

"So you think Abigail can help you learn to use this connection since she has it with the hybrids."

"Not use it but understand it and help us stop the spread of them."

"Okay, unless I hit her harder on the head then I think I did, there is no way she's going to help us."

Jackson nods, "She'll at least be able to give us an idea on how to stop it."

I sigh, "I should head downstairs to help the guys with the surgery."

As I go to walk away Jackson grabs my hand, "We have three other doctors on this plane. They'll do fine."

I shake my head, "I'm not a doctor, Jackson. Just an overqualified nurse."

Jackson chuckles as he pulls me in, "Either way. They have it covered," Jackson leans in a kiss me softly, "I'm about to take out a hybrid nest, spend the rest of the flight to Seoul with me."

I chuckle, placing my hands on Jackson's chest, "You're about to take out a hybrid nest? Oh Mr. Greene, think you know me better than that."

Jackson chuckles and nods, "Well, am I talking to Katherine or Elizabeth, right now?"

I tilt my head slightly to the side, "Would you expect either to let you do this alone?"

"No, but sometimes I wish they would."

I shake my head and kiss Jackson softly, "Then you shouldn't have married such a strong woman."

Jackson smiles and places his forehead to mine, "My life would be boring if I hadn't. So, I wouldn't have it any other way."


	22. Nest

Once the plane lands in Seoul Jackson and I head to the location Dariela had given us on the nest. When we get there we see Logan and a few other men suited up in yellow hazmat suits and hear Logan talking to Dariela, "The window seems to be 20 minutes. Garrison doesn't want anyone in that nest until they can write up a full report."

"So in the meantime, we just wait." Logan shrugs his shoulders, oblivious to the fact Jackson and I are there.

"Officially, you are to stand by and await further orders."

"And unofficially?"

As Logan asks Dariela this question Jackson calls out, "That's where we come in."

"I'll let them explain." Dariela comments as Logan drops his arms and turn towards us.

I smirk, "Come on, you didn't expect us to let you have all the fun."

"Why are you two here?" Logan shakes his head.

"We need spinal samples from those hybrids."

"I thought you already had them?"

Jackson sighs, "Yeah, we did. But something happened and we needed to use them to save Abigail."

"So you're doing this to save Abigail? You two realize that she's a terrorist. Terrorist responsible for hundreds of deaths and for releasing hybrids all over the word?"

Jackson nods, "Believe me, this case has been made."

"It's not like we are happy about it either." I walk past Logan, slapping him on the arm. "But her plan isn't finished." I lay my bag down and start getting suited up.

"There's more she can tell us," Jackson comments as he does the same.

Logan nods, "Oh, so you're sure the fact that she's your sister has nothing to do with it?"

I chuckle, "trust me, any love he has for her is dwarfed by my hatred of her. So no need to worry about that."

"What about your love for him? Does your hatred for her trump that?"

I look over to Jackson then back to Logan, "little bit." I pull on the hazmat suit, "trust me, Logan. This is for the best."

Jackson nods, "we need the schematics of where you need the explosives laid."

"Guys, you're gonna have a 20-minute window in there. There's no way you'll be able to sift through thousands of eggs to find the sic that you actually need. It's impossible."

"We know." I smile, "That's why there's two of us."

Logan sighs, "I'm going with you." I look over to Logan a little surprised, "What can I say? I've always been a sucked for an impossible challenge."

"Famous last words." I chuckle as I walk over to the door and hit the button, opening them as the boys follow me.

In our full getups we have the hazmat suits, headsets, masks, packs, and flashlights, and Logan has a guns loaded with chem-packs to suppress the spores, so I'd say at the very least we'll be alright, for the twenty minutes we have, which Dariela keeps reminding us as soon as Logan shots the chem-packs, "You guys have exactly 20 minutes. That chem pack won't suppress the spores for any longer than that."

As we look around as the nest, eggs hanging everywhere like old fruit hangs from a dying tree. The eggs squishing and chittering. "That chem pack should make it safe for you two to handle the hybrid eggs and extract the spinal fluid without setting off the spores. Emphasis on Should."

Jackson shrugs, "Only one way to find out."

Jackson takes one of the syringes and slowly inserts it into one of the eggs. The fluid in the egg squishes as he extracts the spinal fluid. As Jackson removes the needle Dariela calls out to us, "one down, 16 minutes left. Come on, guys, pick up the pace."

I look over to Jackson, "We need to split up."

"All right." Jackson nods and looks over to Logan, handing him a few syringes before we all split and look for different hybrids. After a little while of looking for hybrids, Jackson calls out, "How's it going over there?"

Logan responds first, "Just got fluid from a razorback. Kat?"

"I got a snake and a woolly rhino. Jackson?"

"I got a tentacle thing. So we still need the ape hybrid."

"Like Abendegos."

Logan sighs, I can only imagine looking at his watch, "Look, we got about five minutes left and we still haven't checked the southeast quadrant."

I clear my throat, "then why don't you boys meet me over there."

As I head toward the Southeast Quadrant Dariela comes over the headset, "Jackson, I have Abe on the line for you. He says it's important."

"Dariela, nows not really a good time," Jackson response.

Abe comes on over the headset, "Rafiki, I'm afraid I have bad news. It's Abigail. We lost her."

Jackson sighs, "yeah. Uh... I'm sure you did everything you could, huh?"

As I make my way southeast look for the ape hybrid. While I am I hear Dariela, she sounds worried and rushed, "Jackson? Kat? Logan? I need you to drop everything and get out now."

"Say what?" I question. "We're almost done."

"No, you are done. The eggs are hatching. Get out now!" Dariela shouts I jump as I feel something hit my back when I turn I see it's Jackson. As the eggs start to fall around us the two of us hurry to try to find the last hybrid, eggs chittering and falling all around us. "Guys, I need you to evacuate that building right now."

"We need to go," Logan comments as he catches up to us.

Jackson shakes his head, "Logan, we have to get that sample."

"No, trust me, it's not worth it."

I turn to Logan, "We need to cure sterility."

Jackson continues to look and I resume looking as Logan sighs, "My toxin meter's on yellow."

"Got it." I look over to Jackson as he starts to get his syringe out, having found the last hybrid. Once he pulls the syringe out he shouts, "let's go. Let's go! Move!"

The three of us turn and run as fast as we can toward the exit, making sure the other two are nearby the whole way. As we run more and more eggs fall around us. As we run Dariela comes back on the headset, "guys, can you hear me? Change of plans. Go to the southwest stairwell."

"What? Why?" We stop running for a moment.

"Just listen to me. Go to the stairwell now." We turn and run toward the stairwell, hearing explosions behind us as we dive into the stairwell and down the stairs. Jackson landing on top me and Logan nearby. "Jackson? Kat? Logan? Talk to me."

I sigh as I look up to Jackson, "We're fine. We're okay."

"It's good to hear your voice."

Jackson chuckles, "guys we can knock that one off our bucket list."

"You guys need to be Oscar Mike before those spores filter through the dust. I'm gonna send an exfil team to get you."

Jackson nods, "Copy that, we'll be ready."

Once we are evacuated, Jackson and I head back to the plane exhausted when we get out of the car and I walk over to Jackson, Abigail steps into the cargo bay. Jackson and I both freeze. "Abigail." Jackson whispers, "How are you here?"

The next thing I know I hear a gunshot and feel a sharp burning pain in my stomach and Jackson kneeling over me before I hear another gunshot and see Jackson fall next to me, hearing Abigail whisper. "Goodbye, brother."

Jackson and I reach for the other, grabbing the other's hand as we lose consciousness.


	23. Steve

There are worse ways to die, right?

I mean I could have easily been torn apart by razorbacks before Jackson and I had gotten married and had a decent life together, even though we were on the run. Before I had this loving family to call my own. But I am dying next to the man I love.

Even though it was his sister who killed us. But there are worse ways to go.

But in my last moments of consciousness, I couldn't help but think of all the things Jackson and I would never have and would never see. We'd never have a family of our very own. I'd never get to see Jackson be the amazing father I know he would be. We'd never see our children get married, or met our grandchildren. We'd never see Isaac grow up or see if Jamie and Mitch stop dancing around one another.

To even my surprise, I wake up, to me what feels like seconds later. When I wake up I see Clem hold her hands over my face. Once she lets out I cough up what feels like water and roll over to try and get it out. When I look over I see Jackson next to me, laying on his stomach, wheezing. As I look around I see the others in the same state.

Jackson reaches up toward Clem and Sam, "What happened."

I lay my head down on the floor and try to catch my breath, but I hear Clem, "Easy. easy. I used tank concentrate to speed up your healing."

I chuckle and lift my head, still not looking at Clem, "That's my girl."

"You're gonna be okay, just take it slow."

I see Jackson trying to stand out of the corner of my eyes, "you. Where's Abigail? You help her with this?"

I look over to Sam who shakes his head, "How? You left me locked in a cage."

Jackson steps forward, clearing still not having his balance back, "He's working with Abigail, Clem. She's brainwashed him."

"It's not true." Sam clenches his jaw.

As I stand I hear Mitch, "Clem. You're out of the tank."

I finally get to my feet and look over to Clem, "And she's full term..."

"How long was I out?" Mitch looks over to Jamie.

Sam points to Abe, "He gave her something to speed up her pregnancy."

"You sped up her pregnancy? How?" Mitch asks, grabbing his knees.

"With the hybrid growth factors." Abe sighs.

"You put hybrid goo in my daughter? Was that not worth a little chat? And who are you?" Mitch points to Sam, "Who's this guy?"

I take what few steps I can out of from between Sam and Mitch before Abe answers. If Mitch doesn't remember that now, I don't wanna be in his way."He's the baby's father. How do you not remember that?"

Jamie stands, "Because Mitch never met Sam. He was Duncan."

I shake my head, "You turned the bio-drive back at the compound."

Jamie shakes her head, "He was Duncan until right before Abigail attacked us."

Mitch shakes his head, "So you could have changed me back and you didn't?"

Abe looks over to Jamie, "Is that why Abigail was resurrected? Did Mr. Duncan do something to her?"

Jackson turns his head toward Jamie, "Why would you do that?"

Jamie sighs, "To kill Abigail. You weren't gonna do it." Jamie gestures to Jackson, then to Abe, "You weren't gonna do it," then to me and Mitch, "Neither were you two. So I asked Duncan to do it and he did. Or I thought that he did."

"Okay," Mitch leans against the staircase railing, "I've heard enough. Clem, come on, let's go. We got to get you to a real doctor." He glances to Jamie as he starts to walk, "You… can't even look at you…"

Clem stops Mitch, "We can't leave. We're in quarantine, surrounded by hybrid spores. I turned off the power and pressurized the plane, but we have to wait until Dariela sends a team to deal with them."

"Wait a second. You pressurized the plane and turned off the power?" Max looks over to Clem, still holding his stomach, "How long till Dariela's team gets here?"

Clem shrugs, "five hours or so. They're sending a plane from the states."

"Oh." Jamie comments in a less than comforting tone.

I look between the two of them, "Oh, what else is wrong?"

Jamie sighs, "if we don't have power, the plane will never stay pressurized that long."

Max nods, "Air will enter through the overboard exhaust valve."

"How long do we have then?"

"Two hours. Three tops."

I rub my face, "So we're two hours short."

As I turn to Jackson, I hear water splash to my right, which happens to be the side Clem is on. "Well, that's just perfect," Clem comments as she sighs.

I glance to Abe and Jackson, "Get her on a table, make sure she's comfortable. Because we are gonna have a baby."

Abe and Jackson get Clem set up on a table, with a blanket and a pillow to make sure she's comfortable. Of course, Mitch and Sam don't leave her side, and neither does Max. Which I have to say makes the exam a little more the awkward.

"The baby seems to be in the correct position. But you're only two centimeters dilated."

As I look down at Clem, who is laying on the table she grabs her pants and starts to get up. As she does Mitch looks over to her a little bewildered, "Where do you think you're going?"

"I haven't had a chance to read any of those baby books yet." as the rest of us turn while Clems getting dressed Sam doesn't, when Mitch notices he punches Sam in the arm, to get him to turn around, "but I have seen every episode of Real Med New York, so I know that two centimeters means I've got at least two commercial breaks till I'm having this baby."

I turn back to Clem, "You're basing your birth plan reality tv? Honey, you realize every pregnancy and every birth are different right?"

Max nudges Mitch, "Wait a minute, she's probably right."

Clem nods, "We have bigger problems. Namely, the spores trying to slink their way onto this plane. I've got to stop them, and you've got to stop bleeding."

Sam nods, "I'll help Clem."

"Uh…" Mitch shakes his head, "I think you've been quite enough help already."

I take a deep breath, "She's right. Somebody should take a look at you, Mitch. I will go check on the hybrid samples that Jackson brou…" suddenly I feel as I can't breathe, I gasp for air but I can't get any in. I cough and gasp and Mitch and Max walk around the table.

"What is it?" Clem asks.

Mitch answers as I feel him lift my shirt up, "Second chest wound. We don't have any more of that tank juice left, do we?"

"No, we used it all."

"Then, we'll do this the old fashioned way"

"We'll find a way to hold the spores off."

Mitch ducks under my arm and helps me across the lab. "Easy easy…"

The two of them get me onto a table and lay me face down. Before long I hear Jackson, "Jamie won't be calling anymore audibles." Jackson pauses for a moment seeing me then rushes to my side and takes my head, "What the hell is going on? Are you okay?"

Since I can still barely breath Mitch answers, "Not even remotely. Would you hold still?"

I wheeze and whisper, "I can't breathe."

"Because you got a hole the size of Jersey in your chest cavity, and every time you squirm, it makes it worse"

Max sighs, "Your bedside manner leaves much to be desired, son."

Jackson looks from me to Mitch, "What can I do to help?"

"I need Steve." Mitch comments.

"Who's Steve?"

"Oh, he's um…" Mitch trails off.

Luckily Max knows what Mitch is talking about, "Steve. He's Jamie's scorpion. Uh, it's sting is a temporary paralytic."

"Yeah, it's in the cage. Go, go grab it." Mitch comments.

"How'd you know the name of Jamie's scorpion?" I hear Jackson ask as he walks away.

"Because my son and Jamie have, uh, very lively pillow talk." Max clears his throat, "Thin walls."

I wheeze again, "Very thin."

"Okay, shut up. You aren't really one to talk," Mitch complains. "You're gonna feel a bit a sting. Okay, on three. Ready? One…" On one I feel the sting and shout in pain. "That a boy, Steve. It's about three centimeters wide. Twice as deep. We're gonna need a solid patch anybody got a credit card?"

Jackson comes back around to me, taking my hand again, "I haven't seen a credit card in over six years."

I hear a pocket unzip followed by Max, "Mine's maxed out, don't get any crazy ideas. Here."

I lay my head onto the table as the guys work on my wound. Before long I fall asleep, probably due to the sting.


	24. Contractions

When I wake up I take a deep breath but it is still hard for me to breath. I look around the room to see if anyone is there, but the only person I see is Jackson, who is looking over something on the computer a few feet away. As I try to take another deep breath, I cough, getting Jackson's attention. He turns and smiles to me softly, moving over next to me and takes my hand, "Hey, it's okay."

I take a few more breaths, responding weakly, "I think I'm over passing out. It's not fun."

Jackson chuckles, "Yeah, I know it's not. But once we are cleared to move we will get you to a real doctor and we'll be able to get Max's credit card back to him."

I chuckle and cough again, "Did they really use that? I thought Mitch was joking."

Jackson shakes his head, "No you really have Max's credit card taped to your back."

"So that's that weird feeling, okay." I glance over to the computer screen, and see a screen that says 'Internet Access Unavailable.' "I haven't seen that in a while."

"Yeah, our Internet is down because the power is off."

As I look back up to Jackson one of the phones go off and Jackson answers it, putting it on the com in the lab. Darieal is on the other end, "Please tell me you've found something. We have a team moving in on the Tokyo beacon right now."

"We have not internet right now, since the powers off."

"Yeah, so?"

"Abigail's beacons must have a power source, okay? If we turn it off."

"No internet, no signal." I cough again, sitting up with Jackson's help.

Jackson nods, "we don't have to destroy the beacons, we just have to cut their power. Does your team have EMPs?"

"They have shock grenades that double as EMPs." Dariela seems to perk up by the tone of her voice, "Stay with me. The team is closing in on the signal. As soon as we shut this thing down the team will head to Seoul and evac you guys." We hear some kind of commotion on the other end of the call, "That thing is massive. Guys, you've gotta see this." Dariela sends a live feed to Jackson and I, showing us the massive beacon.

Jackson sighs, "that explains how the signal is reaching so many nests."

I look over to Jackson, "The same principle should apply. We need to cut the power somehow."

We watch as we hear Dariela speak to her team, "Team leader, do you see a power supply?"

"I found a power cable!" I female soldier shouts.

"Cut it now. Do you copy?"

"Copy, cutting the cable." The team leader replies.

Jackson and I watch as the team cuts the cable. When they do there is what looks like an electrical pulse that cuts out the cameras on their side. We wait and listen for someone to tell us what going on. After what feels like hours we hear Logan, "We just lost Toyko."

Jackson hangs his head and walks away. I give him a few minutes before I go after him, although it's not like I had a choice in my condition. When I find Jackson he is still in the stairwell, on the stairs. It is dark and he looks as if he is completely broken. "Hey."

Jackson looks up to me and then forward again, "I couldn't do it, Kat. I tried but I couldn't stop Abigail."

I walk over to him and sit a few steps below him, placing a hand on his knee. "It's okay. We all tried, but we have some time to figure things out."

"No, we don't…" He pauses taking a deep breath, "It's really happening. Abigail's beacons are going off all over the world, thousands of hybrids about to attack, and we can't stop 'em."

"I'm sure we'll figure out a way."

"We tried. And we lost Tokyo. The entire city. Gone. All those people. And we are on a runway, surrounded by toxic spores and our rescue team just blew up in Tokyo."

I shake my head, "Jackson, listen to me. We are going to get out of here and we are going to find your sister. And we are going to stop her. We will end this. I don't know how, but we will. Okay? Trust me."

As Jackson looks down to me, with tears in his eyes Mitch comes into the stairwell, "Clem's contractions are less than 30 seconds apart. Are you good to deliver a baby?"

I look up to Mitch and nod, "Yeah, help me up."

Jackson and Mitch help me up, before Mitch and I head into the lab, where Clem is step up on the team. When we get there I look over to Clem and smile, "You ready to have a baby?"

"Is anyone right now?" She looks over to Mitch as another contraction hits.

Mitch takes her hand and she squeezes it, "What can I do?"

"Just keep talking." Clem groans loudly, "Distract me."

Mitch nods and looks over to me, "Okay. um, uh, did I ever tell you about the Surinam toad? The mother keeps the babies underneath the skin of her back and so, at birth, they have to punch their way out..."

Clem shakes her head, "Never mind. Stop talking!"

Max comes down the stairs and places a few things on the table next to the bed, "Candles, lanterns, whiskey?"

Mitch nods, "Yes, please."

Max looks over to Mitch, "I was talking about her. It's not like we can do an epidural here."

Clem shakes her head again, "No. No whiskey. No cable news." She groans loudly again.

I look up to Mitch, "her contractions are too fast."

Mitch and Max look over to me, "What do you mean, what do you mean too fast?"

"They should be slower, longer by now. Haven't you ever delivered a baby before?"

Mitch rolls his eyes, "No, not a human one. Have you?"

I nod, "Yes. It's been twelve or so years, but yes."

Max sighs, "All right, look we have to keep her calm, keep her heart rate down."

"Hopefully that'll slow down her contractions."

I look over to Mitch who nods, "Yeah, alright. Calm her. Um, I remember the day you were born I got this, um…"

Clem nods, "parking ticket. Almost missed it. Priceless." Clem bellows in pain. Sam comes into the lab, not saying a word. He walks over to Clementine and takes her hand, "Boulder. The night we met."

"You were the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen." Sam nods and smiles down at Clem, "We brought popcorn from that guy in a top hat, watched the family of ducks. Mother and her babies."

Mitch rolls his eyes again as Clem nods, "I told you I wanted a family someday." Clem wheezes, "I was wrong."

Sam shakes his head, "You can do this. Trust me."

As I smile and watch Clem and Sam, thinking about how much they remind me of Jackson and I, Mitch lifts his hand, "Preen glands."

Sam and I look over to Mitch, speaking in unison. "What?"

Max nods, "ducks. Good thinking. Good thinking, son."

"Ducks use oil from their preen glands to keep water off their feathers. That's what we're missing."

"We don't need a shield. We need to oil up a filter. Turn on the auxiliary power unit." Mitch nods agreeing with Max, but Max stops him, "No no no. You stay with Clem. I'll take care of it." Max places a hand on Clem's cheek, "Honey, you're doing great. I love you. I'm so proud of you."

I have the boys turn the lights off and light the candles to try and calm Clem. Since she is still having odd contractions we turn her onto her side. Clem is still in extreme pain, "Somethings wrong!"

Mitch looks over to me, "Uh… Maybe you need to get on your feet." He looks to Sam and then to Clem, "Let's get you up and moving."

I shake my head, "no, don't move her." Clem yells as I take a stethoscope and place it on her stomach. "Is the pain in your lower abdomen?"

"Yes."

"Here?" I place the stethoscope on her lower stomach and listen for a minute. Once I take the stethoscope off I feel around her stomach, and Clem's right something isn't right.

Mitch takes a deep breath, "What is it?"

"I can't be sure without all of the equipment, but it could be a clot."

"What does that mean?" Sam looks over to me, still holding Clem's hand tightly.

"A blood clot pressing down on the baby is very dangerous. If we don't force a delivery now, we may lose the baby."

Mitch nods, "okay, let's do that."

I sigh, "forcing a delivery can also disrupt the clot and cause it to burst after the baby's born, which can be extremely dangerous for the mother."

Sam looks over to Mitch, "Well that means…"

Mitch cuts him off, "no. absolutely not. Think of something else."

I shake my head, "Mitch we may not have the time to…"

"Think of something else!"

Sam shakes his head, "I'm with him, we're not doing it."

"Yes, we are," Clem speaks up, "This baby is all that matters now."

Mitch shakes his head, "Clementine, listen, listen to me."

"Dad, you said I'd be a good mother. Let me try."


	25. Baby

Clem had made her decision to force her delivery, and while they didn't agree with or like the idea Sam and Mitch went along with it. I had mixed a solution to help to speed up the contractions and get ready to give it to Clem.

"What is that?" Mitch asked.

"It will speed up her contractions."

Clem holds up her arm, "hurry, this doesn't feel right."

I give Clem and shot and place the needle back on one of the far tables. "Now comes that hard part," Clem shouts out in pain. By this time, I have pushed myself as far as I can and need to take a quick break.

I look up to Mitch, "Go get Abe, hurry."

Clem looks over to me, terrified, "Kat. you can't leave. You can't."

I shake my head, "Clem I'm gonna be right here. I promise. I will be right back." I look over to Sam, "Take care of her until I get back."

I get up and head into the stairwell again, where Jackson is still sitting on the stairs, "Kat. You should be with Clem. What are you doing in here?"

"Keeping you from giving up."

"There's a difference between giving up and running out of time."

"As far as I know the clocks still ticking. I know you have the information from the dead man switch."

"I've looked at it for hours."

I nod, "As Jackson."

"Uh.." Jackson looks over to me confused, "Yeah."

"All I've heard over the past month is how much you're like you're father and sister. Maybe it's time you use that to your advantage. Don't look at the code as Jackson. Try looking at it like an Oz. Your sister learned a lot from your father and so did you."

Jackson nods, "follow those ants." he chuckles, "My dad uses to tell these terrible jokes when he was working and there was this one, that he used to say." Jackson laughs, "What does the aardvark say to the taxi driver? Follow those ants." Jackson looks up from the computer in his lap to me, "I think I just found a way to Abigail's beacon operating system."

"Can you reprogram them, or shut them down?"

"I'm not sure that this computer can handle this software." The computer begins to crackle, "whoa."

"What's happening?" The computer stops and the dead man's switch starts flashing again.

"The dead man's switch is okay, but the software is insane. We need a much larger processor. We need a bigger computer."

"The IADG has a super processor that should work, right? We need to get that switch to Dariela and Logan as soon as possible."

Jackson nods, "Dariela's team should be here in an hour, the problem is we don't have an hour. We have fifteen minutes."

I sigh, "I need to get back to Clem, I told her I'd be right back." I hurry back into the lab as quickly as I can. When I get there it looks like Abe as everything ready to go. "Clem?"

"Kat!" Clem calls to me as I pass by her.

"It's okay, I'm right here. I promise you're gonna be fine." once I get down to the edge of the bed I look to Sam and Mitch, who are on either side of Clem holding her hands, "okay, Clem. Are you ready?" Clem nods, "Alright, sweetie, push." Clem strains as she pushes, "okay, breathe. breathe. Clem takes a few more breathes, "Okay, push."

Clem shakes her head, "No, I can't."

Mitch takes a deep breath and speaks to Clem softly, "You are doing this. Right now."

It's odd to think that when I first met Mitch I questioned if he was really a father or not. But now, not only is he one of the best fathers that I had ever met, he was someone I considered to be a father figure. Even though he may not always have the best timing or temper, he always comes through in the end.

I look over to Clem, "One more big push, sweetie, come on." Clem strains and screams in pain, as she does the little one comes out, "He's here. He's here."

I gesture for Sam to come over to me when he does, I let him cut the cord and the baby starts crying. I pick the baby up and hand him to Clem. Clem smiles brightly and begins to cry. As Clem and Sam smile down at the baby the air starts whirring. I guess Max's plan worked. After a few minutes, I take the baby back and clean and wrap him up, before handing him to Mitch.

Mitch smiles down at the little one, "Hey, welcome to the world, little guy. It's a little messed up right now. But it's gonna get a whole lot better, now that you're here."

I look over to Mitch and sigh, "The auxiliary power's on. Max did it. And the clot passed."

"Thank god." Mitch looks down at the little one again, "Come on, let's get you back to mama."

"Hi." Clem bounces the little one in her arms, "Thanks, Dad. Couldn't have done it without you." Clem looks over to Abe, "Can you test him? For the CLM protein, see if your theory works."

Abe nods, "Sure."

I walk over to Clem and look at the little one over her shoulder, "We're gonna see if you can save the world."

Abe walks over to the little one and points his foot, of course, he starts crying again. Clem calms his back down, "Good job, you're so brave."

I hear what sounds like someone coming down the stairs and turn to see Jackson, "it's a boy."

Jackson smiles and wraps an arm around me as he looks down at the little one, "He's perfect."

Clem looks around to the group, "where's Grandpa?"

I look over to Mitch, "he should be back by now."

Mitch nods, "I'll go look for him."

Sam kisses the little one on the forehead, before hugging Clem. Jackson hugs me tightly as well, as we celebrate the baby. Jackson kisses me softly, "looks like that training very goes away does it?"

"I told you, I am an overqualified nurse." I smile, "But since the power's back up we need to get a hold of Dariela."

Jackson nods and heads off into the computer lab area of the lab. I stay for a moment longer with Clem before going with Jackson, when I get there Jackson already has Dariela on the phone and the system fired up, "Spores are down. All clear, that's your window."

I smile and walk up behind Jackson kissing him on the cheek, "Time to save the world, genius."

Jackson shakes his head, "You already did that when you delivered Clem's baby."

I shake my head, "No, that was all Clem. I just caught him." As I look up I see Mitch carrying Max into the lab. "Jackson…"

Jackson looks up and sees them as well and the two of us head back to the others, seeing Mitch hand Max the baby. "Say hello to your great-grandson."

When I get a better look at Max, it is clear he doesn't have long left. The color is gone from his skin, he looks weak and drained. But he holds the little one and smiles down at him, lovely. After a few moments, Max's head falls back and the life fades from his eyes. I walk over and take pick up the little one, tears rolling down my cheeks, but nothing compared to those coming from Mitch and Clem. Clem is snuggled up into Sam's chest and Mitch has turned his back.

I look over to Abe, "I'll watch him for a little while."

Abe nods but doesn't say anything. I turn and see that Jackson is back in the computer lab, so I walk back in with the baby. Jackson turns to me, "You know I thought that when I saw you like this I thought you'd be holding our baby."

I chuckle and smiles, bouncing the little one, "someday. Thanks to his little guy."


	26. Baby Names

Jackson looks over to the screen as a phone begins to ring and answers. Dariela popping up on the screen, "The spores are clear. All clear, that's your window."

I smile over to Jackson, "Time to save the world, genius."

I leave Jackson alone and watch the little one. After about an hour or so I take him back to Clem and Sam, "Have you two thought of a name yet?"

Clem shakes her head, "Not yet."

"Let us know if you need any help, Jackson and I have only spent the past ten years thinking up baby names."

"You two still thought of baby names when there was no chance of you two having one."

I smile softly over to Clem, "We had to keep hope alive somehow, and now thanks to this little guy, maybe it won't be a dream anymore." I smile over to Sam before I leave the room, but he doesn't look like he wants to be here. I imagine the only reason he hasn't left yet, is the toxic spores outside and Clem. I sigh as I walk back into the lab with Jackson.

"What's wrong?"

"Sam does realize he's family now. I mean he has to after what Max just did to save all of us. But he is still really… uh…"

"He's still a jackass?"

"Not the word I would use but yeah, I guess."

Jackson nods, "that's because Abigail has brainwashed him into thinking that we are the reason his parents were killed on Pangea." Jackson shakes his head, "And to some extent he's right."

"The reason all those people were killed, is because they made the hybrids in the first place, then tried to feed us to them." I cross my arms and lean against the desk. "We did what we needed to in order to survive."

"I know but because of that a boy grew up without his parents."

"Clem lost both her parents because of this too. So did you and so did I."

Jackson nods, "I know…" Jackson sighs and falls silent for a minute, "Shouldn't you be helping Clem?"

I nod, "Yeah, but I'm letting the new family have a moment."

"Probably for the best."

I nod and walk over to Jackson, kissing his cheek, "thanks to that little you'd better start thinking of baby names, Mr. Oz."

Jackson looks over to me, placing a hand on my cheek and kissing me softly, before placing his forehead against mine, "Is that so?"

"Geez, you two still do that?" We hear Mitch from the doorway turn to him.

"Yeah, well, it's how we show affection."

Mitch shakes his head, "Why is the computer lab still attached to the kitchen? You'd think that'd be something Jamie would have fixed."

I chuckle, "You know there are multiple entrances to the kitchen, you didn't have to come through here."

"This was the closest door."

I shake my head, "Why are you down here?"

"Clem asked me to get you, she needs some help feeding the baby."

"Has her milk come in yet?"

"I don't know," Mitch states, getting a little uncomfortable, "You're the nurse, you ask her."

I sigh, "Fine I will head upstairs." I shake my head and chuckle as I head upstairs to see Clem holding the little one as he coos sweetly. "Hey."

Clem looks over to me and smiles, "Hey,"

"Your dad said you needed some help feeding the little guy?"

"Yeah, I can't seem to get him to latch. Do you think you could help?"

I shrug, "I can try. But I haven't had to coach someone of that in a while."

"I imagine the same rules still apply." Clem smiles sweetly, once I help here with the little one and she feeds him I head over to the bar and get a glass of water. "How you doing?"

"Me?" I look to her confused, "I'm not the one who just brought another human being into the world. Without pain meds."

Clem chuckles, "I'm doing fine."

I nod, "We'll all feel better once we get you some medical attention at the barrier. We did a good job, but this plane is hardly a birthing center." I look over to the little on that Clem has wrapped in a military green sweater. "They're really cute when they're this age."

"Before they start talking," Clem and I look over to see Mitch, "or having their own opinions." Mitch smiles down at the little one. "Max once said the same exact thing about you. If Max and I did have one thing in common, it's that neither of us liked to recognize things like grief or guilt. He was always more of an in the moment kind of guy. So, in honor of that, in this moment, all that matters is keeping you and this baby safe."

I nod, "This currently unnamed baby."

Clem clears her throat, "I, uh, thought I would have a little bit more time to think on it."

Mitch nods, "Right. Accelerated pregnancy."

"What do you think about Cadmus?"

"What?" Mitch and I ask in unison.

Mitch shakes his head, "did your cult member boyfriend give you that one?"

"Don't be mean." the baby coos as Clem bounces him.

Mitch thinks for a second, "how about Chris Cornell?"

Clem gives him an odd look before shaking her head, "Nice try."

I make my exit, so the two of them can have this little debate alone. When I step out I see Jackson on the other side of the catwalk, he smiles over the walkway to me. "Come here I need to clean off that card and replace it."

I sigh softly, "Can there be a normal day in our marriage?" I walk over to Jackson and lean over the back of one of the chairs, taking my jacket off before Jackson pulls my shirt up to get to the card.

"Hey, there have been normal days." I glance over my shoulder to shake, "you know, a few."

"We've had a week of normal, tops."

"It was more than a week. Two weeks, minimum." Jackson and I laugh. Jackson takes the card off and replaces it. "There. That should keep you going till we land."

"After everything we've been through, I'm happy to be breathing through half a lung."

Jackson chuckles as he takes the gloves off, "The world is almost over and you're still the optimist I fall in love with."

I shrug my shoulders, "With what we've been through and how many times we've saved the world. How can I not be? Plus the world isn't over yet."

"Well, not if we can get the dead man's switch to the IADG and stop Abigail."

I nod as I turn and put my jacket back on, "And with Clem's baby healthy, we can solve sterility." I step over to Jackson and smile softly, as he pulls me close, "We're so close."

Jackson nods and taps a few keys on the table close by, "Alright, guys, get to the jump seats. We're about to initiate the landing sequence."

Jackson and I start to move to the seats, but before we get far the plane jerks as if it's been hit by something. When I glance to the tablet it reads, 'LANDING SEQUENCE INCOMPLETE,' and an alarm begins beeping rapidly.

Mitch rushes up the stairs to us, "What happened?"

"There's something wrong with the landing system" I look over to him.

Jackson walks over to him, "I'll check the manual release on the landing gear."

Mitch nods and turns "I'll get Jamie. It's her plane, she knows it backward and forwards."

Mitch starts back to the bedrooms and I call out to him, "Wrong way."

"Nope. I let her out already."

Jackson shakes his head, "hey, hey. That wasn't your call."

"I can see how you'd feel that way." Mitch turns and leaves.

Before long we feel the plane shift again as it heads down, picking up speed. Jackson looks over to me, "Stap in."

The two of us rush over to the jumper seats in the hall and strap in. Waiting for the crash and hoping we'd come out alive. 


	27. CB Radio

Jackson and I hold each other's hands as we head toward the ground, the only sound other than the speeding plane is the baby crying. Our landing is anything but smooth, the five of us being jerked around in every whichaway while trying to help Clem hold the baby steady. Soon we come to a rather quick stop and we look around at the others.

"We're on the ground." Sam pats as he starts to undo his restraints. "We're on the ground."

We all undo our restraints and sigh softly, happy to be alive. Jackson walks over to me since I was next to Clem and the little one and he was on the other side, and pulls me close to him, hugging me tightly. I barely my face into his chest and sigh a sigh of relief.

"Hey, Clem?" Mitch rushes in.

"We're okay."

I let out of Jackson and turn to Mitch and Jamie, "We need to get to the barrier now."

Jamie signs, "Yeah, about that. We overshot the landing a little bit."

"Overshot? By how much?"

Jackson places a hand on my back, "Where are we?"

"We're on the wrong side of the barrier, in the hybrid zone."

I shake my head and look over to Jackson, terrified. Jackson wraps his arms around me and pulls me close again. After I minute I pull away and head into the lab and the group follows, "We need to figure out a plan."

Jackson nods and stops next to me at one of the tables as the group gathers around it as well, "I agree. We can't stay here. We have to get the dead man's switch to the command center."

Jamie shakes her head, "well, that's fine. But the blast took out everything with a circuit board, including the truck."

Mitch sighs, "So, no plane, no outside communication, no truck. Looks like we're going to be walking to the barrier."

We all tense up as we hear the growling and snarling of Hybrids outside, "Well, guess that rules our walking."

Sam shakes his head, "We can build a pheromone diffuser."

I shake my head, "A what?"

"A pheromone diffuser. The tissue lining of hybrid organs are packed with pheromones. We extract them, dilute them in water with the right mixture, and boom, a hybrid will follow you anywhere. We can easily lead them away from the plane."

Mitch shakes his head and puts his hands on his hips, "We don't know that that's gonna work. We don't even know if that's a thing. Okay? There's way to much ground to cover between us and the barrier and way too much to lose, so I think we just play this one by the book." Mitch looks over to Jamie, "do we have any backup radios or sat phones, Anything?"

"Ther might be an old CB radio in the bar. That would've survived the E.M.P. We can run it off a car battery."

"Yeah. Okay, great. So we get the IADG on the horn, and we hold down the fort and we wait for them to get here."

I shake my head, "With the systems down we need to visually check the plane for breaches."

"Right. So why don't you two go below," Mitch gestures to Jackson and I, "See if those tresses we took out left anyway for hybrids to get in. We will be on radio duty."

Jackson and I agree, heading down to the basement of the plane, checking around, after grabbing a few rifles. As we search I hear Jackson sigh, "I hate his. We keep fighting back against Abigail, against the hybrids, against sterility. I feel like all we do is lose."

I shake my head, "We are so close. Literally, the finish line in just to the east of us."

"There you go. Glass half full."

I smile over to Jackson, "Always. We can't lose sight of the end. Not now. Not when we are so close to solving sterility. All we have to do is get the baby to the barrier, and we can end this. We could have another nephew or niece. We could have a baby."

Jackson sighs, "I had a family 20 years ago and lost them, I never thought I wanted another one." He walks over to me and pulls me close, "Until I met you. Then I thought we lost our only chance to have one of our own."

I smile softly, "Come on."

When we get back the group is in the living room/bar area and we call out to them, "all clear."

Clem looks over to us, "Dariela is leading a tac team to come get us."

I smile, "So you two got the radio to work."

"Did you doubt us?" Clem smirks.

Before long she and Sam go to sit on the couch, about five feet away. Jackson is turning channels on the radio, trying to find someone before long someone comes over the radio. "Is anyone there?"

Jackson picks up the mic and looks over to me, "Loga?"

"There's something I need to tell you."

"What? What happened?"

"The tac teams are down."

"What about Dariela?" I walk over and speak into the mic.

"There's no response from anybody."

I look over to Jackson then to Abe, covering my mouth. "What now?"

Jackson shakes his head, "I don't know."

We all sit in silence for a while, before Jackson grabs the mic again, "There is no way Dariela was taken down so easily. Logan, any word on Dariela?"

"I just got ahold of her. She's alive. With any luck, she's headed towards you with an ATV."

"Okay."

I nod and look over to Jackson, "That's our ticket back to the barrier."

Mitch sighs, "Maybe. Still a whole lot of hybrids between us and it."

Abe nods, "They seem to have an appetite for moving vehicles. What are the chances they will make two trips."

I shake my head and cross my arms, "What are the chances we'd survive one trip let alone two."

"Then we build the pheromone diffuser," Sam proposes again.

Mitch shakes his head, "We've been through that."

"We carry it on the ATV. Lure the hybrids away, clearing a path from here to the barrier for everybody else."

Logan comes back over the CB. "Guys, listen. Whatever you're gonna do, do it fast. We have less than two hours before Garrison orders missile strikes to take out the beacons and the nests."

I shake my head, "that'll kill hundreds of thousands of people."

Abe speaks into the mic, "Don't let him do anything. We'll be there soon." He lowers the mic and looks around the group, "Sam's diffuser is our best chance."

Mitch sighs, "Okay, so who's gonna drive? You?" He gestures back to me.

"I will." Jackson places his hands on his hips. "You build it, I'll drive it."

"Jackson, no." I protest.

"I'm going too." Sam stands.

Clem looks over to Sam with the same look I have. "Sam, come on."

"All that matters is getting you and the baby to safety." Sam looks over to Jackson who nods and looks back to me.

Mitch rolls his eyes, "Alright, hero. You pull this off, I might consider letting you call me Dad."

"For real?"

"Oh, no." Mitch shakes his head as he leaves. 


	28. Dariela

Mitch had gotten started on making the pheromone diffuser with Sam and Jackson had started to get ready to go. Before long I decide I should too when I get to our room Jackson is putting on his leather jacket and smiles over to me. I know the look on my face isn't one of approval.

"Look, I know you aren't happy about me going, but…"

"Oh, that doesn't even begin to cover it. What were you thinking? That it'd be better for you to go and get torn to pieces. That it would be better for you to leave this family."

"I'm saving this family, Kat. I don't have another choice. Abe has a son and a wife. Sam has Clem and the baby, Mitch has Jamie and Clem and the new baby. It makes sense that I'd be the one to go."

"Because you hadn't started a family yet…"

"Because I have less to lose… Kat, I know that you don't want me to leave, but I can't live knowing that someone else grew up without a father because of me." I shake my head. "But I promise you I am going to make it back." Jackson pulls me close and places his hand on my head as it rests against his chest. "And when I get back, we'll have a future and a child."

I smile up to him, "You'd better make it back."

"Come on, when have I ever broken a promise to you."

I nod and smiles, "True. But don't let this be the first time."

I grab one of my good leather jackets as well and head out to the living room area where Clem is. Clem looks over to me, "hey, do you know what's up with Jamie? She basically refuses to hold the baby."

I shrug my shoulders, "I think she's working through some stuff, I mean we weren't exactly family like to her after we found out about everything she was doing."

"Yeah, I guess so."

I walk over and place a hand on Clem's shoulder, "don't worry, she'll come around."

"I hope so." Clem looks over to me, "Can you hold him while I get some stuff gathered and ready?"

"Yeah, of course." I smile as I take the baby and bounce him to keep him happy.

When Clem comes back I give her the little one and head downstairs to help Abe, Jackson, and Sam with the diffuser. When I get there Abe is pushing a cart of all different hybrid pieces, "alright, this is the full menu."

When I get down to the bottom of the stairs, I feel a pain in my chest, I groan softly and grab the railing.

Abe turns to me, "Are you alright?"

I nod and stand straight again, "I'm fine."

Jackson steps over to me, "Are you sure?"

I nod again, "I'm fine. I just need to sit down for a bit." As I say this Jackson helps me over to a chair near the table.

"I heard there were some civilians in need of a rescue." We look over and see Dariela coming in from the vehicle bay.

"Dariela! You made it."

"This is where all the cute guys are hanging out?"

"You are a sight for sore eyes." Abe smiles and walks over to her. The two share an embrace, "you look beautiful."

"And you look horrible." Dariela smiles up to Abe.

"What are you guys building?"

I smile over to her. "Just a pheromone diffusor, because our other one was broken."

Dariela chuckles and walks over giving me a hug, "How does it work?"

Jackson clears his throat, "the pheromones from the hybrids will make them follow whoever is driving the ATV away from the plane. Which in this case, would be me."

"Let me guess, you draw the short straw for driving the ATV as hybrid bait?"

Jackson shakes his head, "No, I volunteered."

I shake my head, "no matter what name you use, you always got to play hero."

Jackson walks over to me and kisses me softly, "Yeah I do."

As I smile up to Jackson I hear the baby coo as Clem comes down the stairs with him. "Oh, wow." Dariela gasps."How you doing?"

"Better. Now that you're here. Do you wanna hold him?"

"Can I?" Dariela smiles.

"Yeah." Clem nods, handing the little one to Dariela. "Here you go."

The little one coos as Dariela looks down at him, "Hey. Hey, buddy."

Abe, Clem, and Dariela head out of the room with the baby and the rest of us get to work finishing the diffuser. "Just a few more organs and we'll be set." Sam comments, squeezing an organ. "We seal this thing up, then when we're ready, poke a small hole, and when then scent hits the air, we'll be the hybrid Pied Piper."

I look over to him, "You sure know your hybrids."

"My dad taught me a lot. Before he died. Every day since I left Pangaea, all I thought about was tracking you down. And making you pay for the death of my parents. I had a plan for the day I found you. I knew exactly what I was gonna say, exactly what I was going to do... But what I didn't plan for was Clem. Holding my son it changes things, in ways I didn't expect. I'm not sure if I can explain it."

"You don't have to." Jackson nods as Sam finishes with the pheromones, "Good to go?

"I just have to say my goodbyes."

Jackson nods as Sam leaves when he's gone Jackson turns to me handing me a small case. When I open it there is a small device with a flashing red light, "This is the dead man's switch, huh? Not very impressive, is it?" I look up to Jackson, "Think we should rename it? Since it didn't come from a man, and also your sister's not dead."

Jackson chuckles, "Call it whatever you want… but you're right. She's still out there."

I nod, "So first we stop the beacons and then we find." Jackson nods and looks down. I place a finger on his chin, raising it. "I know this is tough for you, but we got to get real here. Yes, Abigail is your sister, she also just might be three of the four horsemen of the apocalypse."

"I know what she is…"

"That's not what I'm getting at. Let me finish," I look up to Jackson, who looks back at me confused. "Yes, she is your sister and yes, she is a terrible person. But you do nothing but worry about your family." I chuckle softly, "You, Dylan Green, are a wonderful, caring man."

Jackson chuckles as well, "And you, Elizabeth Green, bring out the best in me."

I smile up to him, "I love you, Jackson Oz."

"And I love you, Katherine Oz."

"Now go save our family."

"And you keep them safe." 


	29. The Barrier

Jackson and Sam had left the plane with the pheromone diffuser. So all the rest of us could do was wait until it was safe to start making our way on foot. But rather than hearing from the boys since we have no working radios we hear from Logan, who is serving as our eye in the sky.

"Guys, the hybrids are on the move. You got your window."

"Copy that. Heading out." Dariela looks around to the group, "Ready?"

The group nods and grabs our bags and guns, before heading out. We are on high alert as we walk to the back of the plane. When we get to the back of the cargo bay we find Jamie and Mitch. "We have the clear, let's move."

Dariela leads the group, "This area was crawling with Hybrids when I came through."

I look around with my gun raised, checking the side Dariela is not, "Good, means Jackson and Sam's plan is working."

I turn as I hear the baby coo as I look up I can see the barrier. But when I do I feel like I can't breathe again and begin to cough. I get extremely dizzy and my vision goes blurry. I can fatally hear Mitch, "Kat. Hey, Kat." I hit my knees and struggle to breathe.

"She can't breath," Dariela comments as she steps to my side.

"Its' tension pneumothorax."

"What the hell is that?"

"It's air trapped in her chest cavity from the puncture in her lungs. We're gonna have to puncture it." I continue to cough and gasp as Mitch looks around. "I need something, a pen, anything hollow."

"I may have something." I hear Clem.

"Hurry hurry hurry! Easy Easy Easy!"

I would love to tell Mitch you can't tell a woman with a baby to hurry and take it easy. But since I can't breathe the thought does allow me to claim down.

I see Mitch look over to Clem after she hands him something, "Since when do you knit?"

"Since I was having a baby."

Mitch shrugs his shoulders and looks over to Abe, who is kneeling next to me holding my hand, "Please tell me you've done this before."

"Sort of."

"On a human."

"No."

I gasp as Mitch plunges the broken knitting needle into my chest and wheeze as I am able to breathe again. I look over to Mitch, "You need to stop using animal treatments on us."

"Have any of them failed yet?"

I take a what deep breaths I can before the team helps me up, Abe makes my ride on his back the rest of the way to the barrier. Once we get to the barrier we are greeted with smiles and medical cots. Clem and the baby are loaded onto one and I am carried to another.

"Mitch!" Mitch turns and walks over to me, "The dead man's switch, it's in my bag." I point over to the bag Dariela is carrying.

Mitch nods, "I got it, don't worry."

The doctors at the barrier patch me up since Mitch had treated the tension pneumothorax out in the field, all they needed to do was sew me up. I wish I could do more, but I can't do much of anything since I am being worked on. When I can I rush into the control center, I'm not even sure that I am cleared to leave the medical area but I have more important things to do. Like, help my team.

"Ma'am, you can't go in there." A soldier calls out to me as I walk into the command center.

I am stopped by an older man, who is balding with white hair on the side of his head, "Darling, I don't know that you are allowed to be in here."

I talk a breathe to speak Logan walks up, "Garrison, this is Katherine Oz. Another member of the team."

"Oh, this is Mrs. Oz." Garrison extends a hand. "It is an honor to meet you."

I shake his head and nod, "If we don't work fast I may be the last people you meet."

"Well, it seems Mitchell Morgan, you, and that piece of mad science are our last hope."

I nod, "Where is he?"

Garrison points over to Mitch and I walk over to him, "Hey, they won't let you leave huh?"

"I didn't feel like hand to hand at the moment so I haven't tried to leave."

"You all patched up?"

"They have great doctors here and even better meds." I look over to Dariela as she walks up, "Any sign of Jackson and Sam?"

"No, not yet. No hybrids either."

"They must have drawn them away with Sam's pheromone diffuser."

"You wanna try calling them?"

I shake my head, "Their phones were affected by the EMP. I hope it will wear off, so I'll try soon."

As Mitch and I work, one of the soldiers addresses Garrison, "Sir, I'm trying to input new data, but the operating system isn't responding."

A woman nods, "same. There's no clear shut-down path."

Garrison walks over to Mitch and I, "I thought you knew how to work this dead man's switch? Or whatever you're calling it."

"It turned the beacons on. It should be able to turn them back off again." I comment, not looking away from the screen.

Mitch nods, "I see a way to cut the power."

Dariela shakes her head, "NO, you can't do that. When we cut the power to Tokyo, it triggered a massive explosion."

"Copy that. Can't cut the power, maybe I can divert it."

I look over to Mitch, "to where?"

A man in a button up and tie walks up behind us and we turn to him, "Sir, we're 30 minutes away from nest threshold."

Garrison sighs, "Get the Generals. It's time to discuss the Contingency Plan."

I look up to Garrison, "What exactly is the Contingency Plan?"

Dariela shifts, "A multinational coalition of naval warships are standing by to eliminate the beacons and nests."

I shake my head, "We can't fire missiles at those things. The loss of life will be astronomical."

"Generals are on the line." A man announces.

"Thank you." Garrison turns to head to the video screen.

I follow after him, "You can't do this."

When the Generals appear on the screen I am right by Garrison. "Garrison, have you decided on a course of action yet."

I shake my head, "No, he was not. We can not do this. If we kill that many people our species may never recover."

"Young lady, I do not know who you are or why we should care about your input on this situation."

"I am Katherine Oz and I have been working with the team that has done what your government and countless others haven't been able to do. And I'm telling you if you fire on those beacons, it's game over."

"It's game over either way."

"No, it's not."

"We don't have another choice."

"What if the missiles don't destroy the beacons? And we all know that the spores will just spread. You are killing more people then just those in those cities if you fire on the beacons and nests."

"The Austalia beacon just went dark. It's spooling down." I look over to one of the soldiers who is smiling. "Hong Kong is down. There goes Russia. Kenya too. They're all shutting off."

I look around but can't find Mitch, I look over to Dariela, "Where did he go?"

"I don't know."

"Columbia is down!" a woman shouts, those in the room begin to applause.

I look over one of the computer screens, "St. Louis is live!" The applause stops. I shake my head, Mitch diverted the power from the other beacons to the one in St. Louis. "Mitch, what did you do."

Abe rushes into the room, "Kat! Jackson is back." Abe grabs my arm and the two of us run to the medical area where Jackson and Sam are.

When we get down there we don't see Jackson and Sam but we do see Mitch fighting with three soldiers, guarding Clem. "Sir, we are under orders…"

"Good for you. I got to see my daughter."

I walk over to them, "Let him through!"

The three men separate and let Mitch through, "We got to go."

"What? Where?" Clem looks up to Mitch.

"Anywhere but here."

"No, I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what the hell is going on."

I sigh, "The hybrids are coming. Like all of them. The St. Louis Beacon is the only live beacon and is drawing them as we speak."

"I couldn't turn 'em off, couldn't cut the power."

"So you redirected it here?!"

"The energy's got to go someplace."

Garrison walks up with Logan, "I should throw you in the brig."

"We have the barrier okay?" Mitch comments, "We're better off than anybody is. We can handle the fallout."

I roll my eyes as I hear Jackson shouting, "I need some help here!"

Abe and I turn and run toward Jackson. Some men are taking Sam away on a gurney, "What happened out there?" Abe questioned.

When I get to him I hug him tightly, he is covered in mud and blood, his clothes completely torn, "I'd hope I wouldn't see you like this again after Africa. But I'm glad you're alright."

"Where did all those hybrids come from?"

I sigh, "Mitch was able to shut down the beacons worldwide. But only by diverting the power to the one here in North America. Which means every hybrid west of the barrier is headed right for us."

We jump as we hear the hybrids crashing into the doors and growling.

"Well, then. Let's just pray the barrier holds up." 


	30. Connor

The three of us rush back to Mitch and Clem. Mitch is still trying to get Clem to leave. "Listen, we don't have a lot of time. Clem, I just want to get you and the baby out of here. Let's go."

Clem shakes her head, "No, I'm not going anywhere without Sam."

Logan sighs, "And that wall is solid concrete. 15 feet thick and 40 feet high. We're taking a hit, but this is still the safest place for her right now."

Garrison looks around, "The blood of all these soldiers is on your hands, Dr. Morgan."

Jackson steps between Logan and I, toward Mitch, "Did you even stop to think about what would happen if you activated that beacon?"

"What I did save millions of lives all over the world, okay?"

"Well, what's your plan now, Mitch?"

"Stop." I place a hand on Jackson's chest.

The boys' arguing overlaps and Clem and I try to get them to stop. Finally, we shout in unison, "Stop!" When we do they stop and Clem takes a deep breath, "I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying right here with Sam, till he's stable. So you can stop worrying about me, and start worrying about the beacon."

Mitch sighs, as he looks around, "I just needed to buy some time."

Jackson shakes his had "Time for what?"

"To figure out how the beacon is designed."

I nod, "If you can get us all the intel that you have on it, we might be able to reverse-engineer it."

Garrison nods and looks from me to Mitch, "We'll start pulling body cam footage from our team in Tokyo."

Mitch sighs, "Although none of that's gonna matter unless I know exactly what the beacons are broadcasting and I…"

"There's a signal-monitoring station in the wall a half click north. I'll take a team and redirect it to target the beacon." Logan uncrosses his arms.

"If you can't take that beacon offline, I'll have to take it out by force." Garrison turns to Logan.

Jackson shakes his head, "no, no, no. You can't do that."

"We've already got St. Louis and half of Missouri Evacuated."

"None of those people will be able to get out of the blast radius in time."

"My hands are tied. This is by executive order. If there is another way. Find it." Garrison orders as he walks away.

Jackson, Mitch, and I look between each other, not sure if we've been giving on order or a challenge, but either way, we soon get to work. Mitch goes to watch the footage and Jackson goes to stay with Sam. The medical personnel finally caught me and ran a few more tests on me, before releasing me.

When I get back Abe is getting ready to inject the little one with what we hope will be the cure to sterility. "This serum will help boost your child's ability to create the CLM protein and restore human reproduction. Don't worry, it's quite harmless. Just three shots. One now, one in 12 hours, and the last in 24."

Clem nods, bouncing the little one, "Okay, you ready, little peanut?"

I chuckle, "If he's really going to save the world, people are going to want to call him something. Have you picked a name for him, yet?"

"I have a few ideas." Clem smiles, "Mostly family names."

The baby cries loudly as Abe sticks him, "I know, I know, I know, little one. It's a great responsibility."

Clem's smile fades as she looks over to Jackson and Sam, "Sam and I never decided on a name. Now, maybe we never will."

"It's okay."

I leave Abe with Clem and walk over to Jackson and Sam. Sam is hooked up to all kinds of machines. Jackson doesn't look up at me as I sit down next to Sam, "After all we've been through I'm surprised one of us hasn't ended up like this."

I take a deep breath, knowing Jackson is reacting out of guilt and pain, "Jackson. What you did took bravery and compassion. You knew Sam was working with Abigail, and yet you risked your life to save him. I'm not sure I would have done the same."

"Trust me, Kat. You would have done the same thing."

"You have more faith in me then I do." I shake my head, as I walk over to Jackson and place a hand on his shoulder, as I do, he places his hand on mine, "You gave a son his father." I look over to Clem, "And a woman, the love of her life."

"I didn't do it for the baby or Clem. I did it for me."

"What do you mean?" I kneel down next to Jackson.

"Sam…" Jackson takes a deep breath, not looking at me. Finally, he does as tears well up in his eyes, "Sam is Connor Oz." I shake my head, bewildered, "Sam is my son…"

"What?"

"This was all part of Abigail's plan... For us to meet like this. She wanted revenge for taking our father away from her. She wanted me to watch Connor die all over again."

I shake my head again, "But if Abigail is the one that told you Sam is Connor, why would you believe her?"

"Becuase he had proof." Jackson takes a small piece of yellow knit fabric out of his jacket pocket and hands it to me, along with a photo, "Because she had this." I take fabric and look it over, before looking at the photo, "Nia knit this for Connor. He was wrapped in this."

"Oh, my God."

"20 years ago, I watched my son die. And now he's here. Older than I was the day he was born. He's a grown man." Jackson shakes his head as I look back up to him, tears still in his eyes. "How do I make this right?"

I place a hand on his cheek, "you try your hardest to be there for him. You make up for the time he was taken from you… and you move forward." 


	31. What's Right?

Jackson chooses to stay with Connor but I head back to the control room to help Mitch and the others. When I walk in I look upon the large screen at the front and see that many countries are celebrating. It isn't long after I walk over to Mitch that Garrison walks over to us.

"Are the beacons still down?"

Dariela is the first to turn and answer, "Whatever Mitch did, it's still working."

"Status report," Garrison walks past Dariela and shouts to the group.

"Coalition forces have secured population centers in Istanbul and Hong Kong. Civilian casualties declining." One of the soldiers calls out. "The German Air Force is exterminating the hybrids outside Berlin."

A tech turns as Garrison walks through the crowd, "Mr. Morgan and Mrs. Oz are still working on a solution for the St. Louis Beacon."

Garrison walks over to Mitch and I work are working with Jamie over our shoulders, "Tell me you have good news."

"Nope." Mitch comments.

"What?"

I turn to him, "Nothing yet."

Jamie turns to Garrison, "Any new beacon activity?"

"No." Garrison shakes his head as I turn back around.

I nod, "So we're winning."

Mitch nods, "Sounds like it."

Garrison signs, "Not we, you two. We are still under siege and outnumbered a thousand to one."

As I turn back to Garrison, about to give him some sassy comment a group of men in combat gear come up, "Sir? The monitoring station's been compromised. It was overrun by Razorbacks. We were barely able to reposition the antenna array and secure the signal data from the St. Louis Beacon."

"Get yourself to the infirmary." Garrison orders.

"I'd be headed to the morgue if it wasn't for Wilson here." the man leans down and pets his dog. "Come on, let's get you patched up. Come on, Wilson, let's go."

As the group and the dog walk off Garrison turns back to us, "This better be worth it."

Garrison hands a disk to Mitch, "How long do you think your men can hold the barrier?"

"Are you having doubts about your fix? Because…"

"How long do you think they can hold it? Do you even know?" Mitch takes a deep breath and looks over to me.

I nod, "I'll go check on Clem."

As I walk through the center I hear the soldiers talking, "Sector H has been compromised. Hybrids threatening to breach near the generators. Sustaining heavy losses in Sectors E, F, and N."

As I get outside of the doors the building starts to shake. "Shit!" I take off toward the infirmary to Clem and Jackson.

As I turn down the hall, basically shoving people out of my way I hear a woman overhead, "All infirmary personnel, please relocate patients to the southwest corridor. All infirmary personnel, please relocate patients to the southwest corridor."

When I get to where Clem was I run past Abe, "Clem, we need to..." When the people move so I can see Clem's bed, she is gone and so is the baby. I look back to Abe.

"What going on?"

"I was checking on Clem, but I can't find her." I look around.

Abe nods, "You go back to Mitch and Jamie, I'll look for Clem."

I nod and run back to the control room. When I get there I see Jackson is with Jamie and Mitch. "Jackson."

Jackson turns, "Kat. Look at this." Jackson points to the screen, "That's the frequency that Abigail recorded off me. She said that that's how I control the animals. Beacons are designed to draw hybrids."

I look over to Jackson, "Why would she include your frequency?"

"No idea. I mean, it's not attracting any animals. If that's mine, I bet you that this one came from Abigail. It's how she commands the hybrids. My guess is, with those two frequencies amplified by the beacon, it creates a sonic barrier."

I nod, "Like the one in Tokyo?"

"Yeah."

"And if that really is your frequency, you might be the only one who's able to get past the beacon's defenses."

"How's that?" Jackson looks over to me.

Mitch nods and turns to Jackson, "Because, I… or Ducan, designed the beacon. And I found a flaw. It's all set up to keep people away. Think of it like two identical tuning forks resonating at the same frequency. You and the beacon are in sync, but everyone else on the planet is dissonant."

"So you're saying that I won't be affected by the signal."

"It's a guess. But seeing what happened to those soldiers in Toyko, I think getting close to it is still gonna hurt like hell."

I shake my head, "and seeing what happened to those soldiers in Tokyo, we are not sending him in there on a guess."

Jamie shakes her head, "Wait, but even if he's right, how does getting close to the beacon help us?"

"Well, I can make a device that we can attach directly to the beacons, it'll give us remote access." Mitch turns to Jackson, "And if you can do that, maybe we can turn it off for good."

Jackson nods, "You make the package, I'll make sure it gets delivered."

"Jackson…" I turn to him and shake my head, "are you sure you want to do this?"

Jackson nods, "Absolutely."

"Cause if it doesn't work…"

"One problem at a time."

Abe rushes across the room to us, "Mitch, how dare you. Clem's baby is critical for the sterilization cure, and you sent him away without consulting us."

I shake my head and look at him, "You did what?!"

Jamie puts her hand up, "Okay, slow down. Clem and the baby needed to be someplace safe."

"What?" Jackson steps up next to me, "You knew about this?!"

Mitch shakes his head, "I did us all a favor."

"If you were so sure you were doing what was right, why did you hide it from us?!" Abe questions. "I should have been there to administer the serum. If he misses his next dose, the cure is lost."

"My family. My call."

Jackson steps forward, "No, Mitch, that's not how this team works."

"Well, that's how I work, Jackson."

"You're not the only one that has a personal stake in this! Alright?!" Jackson shouts as he does I place a hand on his arm and he looks over to me then back to Mitch, "make the device! You better hope that Clem and her baby are fine." Jackson storms off.

"What was that about?" Jamie shakes her head and looks around to us.

I sigh and look up to Abe, then over to Mitch, "Sam's real name is Connor Oz. He's Jackson's son." 


	32. Penguin

Jackson and I get on the first copper we can and head out to St. Louis. When we get there is sun is up and some IADG personnel are already there, lined up greeting Jackson and I.

"This way, sir." a soldier greets the two of us, "Central command thinks you've found a way to take this thing down."

"Yeah, well, we got an idea at least." Jackson nods as the three of us walk side by side and the other IDAG soldiers walk behind us, "if we can attach this device to the beacon, we got a guy back at the barrier who might be able to shut this thing down without blowing us all to kingdom come. It may even send a mirror pulse, which would knock the hybrids away from the barrier."

"The sonic waves that thing's spitting out dropped six of my men. Medic said it was like their organs were being shaken apart." I look over to Jackson in fear and concern when we hear the rhythmic pulse of the beacon. "This is our stop."

I turn and look to the beacon, as my eyes travel up it, "It's massive." I turn back to the IADG soldiers who have stopped behind us, "how did no one notice this thing before?"

"Permits say they were building an advanced radio tower to aid with communication beyond the barrier."

I shrug my shoulders and look over to Jackson, "Well, that's at least half true."

"Alright," Jackson sighs, "No use in standing around and just staring at this thing."

As Jackson step forward I do as well, "I'm going with you."

"Kat, no."

I nod, "mmhmm."

"You heard him. You can't get close to that thing."

"Then I'll go as far as I can."

"Look I know you've saved my ass more times then I can remember. But this, this I have to do alone."

"Jackson you tried to leave me in Africa when this whole thing started, you tried to make me sit out of the hybrid nest, and that didn't happen. What makes you think I'm not going with you now? Plus I wouldn't have been there to save your ass if I'd stayed."

Jackson leans in and kisses me, "I love you."

I walk forward with Jackson as far as I can before I start to feel nausea and can't go any further. As Jackson gets closer the beacon lets out a pulse and it becomes harder for Jackso to walk toward it. "Come on, baby," I whisper to myself. After a few more steps Jackson falls over, "Jackson!" I shout and start toward him, without thinking.

"No!" I hear one of the men call out as I hear toward Jackson.

But I hit what feels like a wall and I am thrown back. Jackson turns his head to me, on his hands and knees, as I look over to him from my position on my back. Jackson crawls over to me, "Go back."

"No!"

"Go back!"

"I won't leave you!"

"Please go back!" Jackson looks into my eyes as if to tell me that he knows how much I want to be there with him, but I can't, not this time. I sigh as he helps me up and I limp back to the others. "Go."

When I get back to the others they help me to stay standing, "You okay? Are you okay?"

I nod, "mmhmm. I'm fine."

We watch Jackson crawl toward the beacon, "He's made it further than anyone. Including SEALs in full pressurized gear."

Before long I hear Mitch over my earpieces, "Jackson, talk to me."

Jackson answers, but he sounds strained and forced, "Wanna trade places?"

"Look, you got to hurry. Our generator's under attack. If we lose power, I won't be able to send commands to shut down the beacon."

"Copy that!"

I take a deep breath, "Okay, yes."

As Jackson gets closer and closer to the beacon it becomes harder and harder for him to move. The last time I saw him like this was when one of our truck got flipped by a rhino when Chloe was still alive, we were all so sore for weeks afterward. As Jackson inches closer and closer I can hear him yell in pain. I have to fight the urge to run up to help him, I bite my lip in anticipation and hold back tears as I watch the love of my life fight against something that I am powerless against.

Finally, Jackson gets to the beacon and reaches around the side of it before collapsing, "Package delivered." he says weakly over the earpiece.

I step forward and shake my head, "He's not moving."

I step forward and one of the IADG soldiers grabs me, "no."

"Let me go!"

"No, you can't."

"Mitch turn it off!" As I shout this the beacon starts to up out increasingly aggressive pulses. "Jackson!"

"No!" the soldier fights against me.

As I try to lunge forward again the light from the beacon flows back to the bottom and the beacon sends out a huge energy pulse knocking us down. I hear Mitch on the earpiece, "Jackon, we did it."

I take a breath of relief, "He did it." I run over to Jackson as fast as my legs will carry me. When I get to him I drop to my knees, kind sliding the last foot or so, and lean over Jackson, "You did it. Baby, you did it." I roll Jackson onto his back before placing a hand on his cheek, he isn't moving or responding to me at all, "No. Open your eyes. Come back to me. You did it." I start to cry, "Baby, baby, you did it. Just open your eyes. Say something. Come back to me." I shake my head and lay my head on Jackson's chest. "Please."

"Let's get this penguin back to the igloo." I lift my head as I hear Jackson and see he's smirking. Jackson looks up to me, completely drained, "Hey."

I shake my head as I lean down and kiss him. 


	33. Animals

Jackson and I head back to the barrier as quickly as we can. When we arrive Abe, Dariela, Jamie, and Mitch come out to greet us.

"Cut it kind of close out there." Mitch jokes.

I look over to Jackson, before over to Mitch, "A little suspense never hurt anyone, right?"

Abe hugs me tightly, before stepping over and hugging Jackson. "You did it."

Jackson shakes his head, once he and Abe are apart, "no, we did it." He looks over to the group, "How's Sam?"

Jamie nods and smiles, "He's safe. They were able to protect the infirmary during the attack."

Jackson smiles over to me, as Dariela continues, "And with the beacon down, we're pushing back the hybrids. Once sure a perimeter, Garrison is gonna recall Echo Team, and we're gonna bring back Clem and the baby."

As Dariela turns and starts to walk we all follow, Abe walking next to Jackson and I, "And it's not only here. The IADG and local militia have hybrids contained worldwide. They're eliminating stragglers as we speak."

I nod and smiles, "So we took down the beacon, stopped a hybrid army and the cure for human sterility is just on the horizon." I pause of a moment, "Anyone else need a drink?"

As we walk inside, with the hopes of getting ready for Clem and the baby, Knox, one of Garrison's right hands comes in, "Hey! Dr. Morgan. Garrison needs you all back in the command center now."

"Why what happened?" Mitch asks as we all turn around.

"It's Troy's dog. They just found Troy torn to pieces in an exam room. Soldiers had to corner the dog and put him down."

"But he was already dead." Dariela states.

"Yeah, well, it came back. As a hybrid."

I shake my head in disbelief, "What?"

"That's not possible."

"Whatever the thing is, you need to have a look at it, ASAP."

Knox turns and walks away and we all start to follow. Jackson sighs as he rolls his eyes, "So, what, these things are now infectious?"

"But if the hybrids can turn the animals, it doesn't matter that we've stopped the beacons or destroyed the hybrid nests," Abe comments from behind Jackson and I.

I nod, "Then Abigail can turn the entire animal population into her army."

Dariela nods, as I glance back to her and Abe, "But we still got the barrier. And as long as it holds, we can keep the spread under control."

As we walk along we were a jeep speeding up, when we look up we see it is missing a door and Clem is driving. "Clem." Mitch stops in his tracks and I almost run into him, since he and Jaime had been in front of us.

Clem stops the jeep, its tires screeching and we run over to her, "Dad!"

"What's the matter? Are you okay?"

"The baby! The baby's gone!"

"Where's the baby?"

"The hybrids came out of nowhere, and then Abigail came, and then"

"What happened to the baby?"

"The baby is gone!"

Jackson stretches out an arm to Clem as she gets out of the jeep, "Are you sure it was Abigail?"

"Yes, I'm sure." Clem nods, "Abigail came, and then, she took the baby. The hybrids came in and Logan is dead."

I place my hands over my mouth, "Oh Oh, my God."

Dariela speaks over her walkie, "Echo Team was hit in transit. The baby was taken. I want eyes in the sky now."

Jamie, who is now in tears, looks over to Jackson and I, "You." She shouts, "If you had put a bullet in Abigail when you had the chance, none of this would've happened, and Logan would still be alive!"

"I tried as hard as anybody to put her down!" Jackson shouts.

Abe looks over to Mitch and Jamie, shouting as well, "Logan was only out there because you and Mitch wanted to move Clem and the baby. If you had kept him here, where he was safe."

I step into the middle of the group, mostly between Abe and Jackson, and Jamie and Mitch, "Hey, calm down both of you! This won't change the past and it won't fight anything."

"Garrison's scrambling whoever he can send out now." Dariela steps back to the group. "But mobilizing additional resources is going to take time."

Abe shakes his head, "We don't have time. If I don't administer the drug in the next four hours, we lose our chance at the sterility cure."

Jamie sighs heavily as Jackson's phone goes off, "What, you think Abigail's gonna be easy to find? Every government agency on Earth is looking for her."

I nod and take a deep breath, trying to stay calm, "Okay, then we need to start thinking about our other options."

Jackson steps away before answering his phone. Jamie nods and starts to calm down, "All right, I'll, uh reach out to some of my Shepherd hunter friends, maybe they can help, somehow."

Dariela looks around the group, "Abigail's walking around with a baby in a world that hasn't seen a baby in ten years. She can't exactly blend in."

Jackson steps back over to the group, "I can get the baby back. That was Abigail, she wants to make a trade."

Clem looks over to Jackson, "Is he okay?"

"What did she say?" Abe shifts toward Jackson.

Jackson takes a deep breath, "he's fine. She's gonna give him back."

"Well, what's she want in return?" Mitch asks as Jackson opens up the tablet in his hand.

He doesn't answer Mitch so I look over to Jackson, "Jackson, what's she want in return?"

"She wants to get her hybrids through the barrier."

"What?"

Jamie steps toward a little bit, "What are you doing with the plane's navigational tablet?"

Jackson shakes his head, "it's the only way."

Mitch looks down at the tablet, "No, no, no, no, no."

As Mitch starts towards Jackson I step in his way, "No. Mitch I don't want to, but I knock you on your ass."

Dariela shakes her head, "That is the only thing that is keeping the hybrids from spreading, and infecting all the animals, Jackson."

Jackson nods, "we have to get the baby back."

"If you do this, you're gonna be no better than your dad." Mitch sighs, "or your sister."

"Jackson is nothing like them and you know that."

"That baby is the cure, and he is the only thing keeping mankind from extinction, and he is in the hands of a monster."

Dariela tears up, "You cannot negotiate with her!"

Abe turns to the group, "If we don't do as she asks, Abigail won't hesitate in killing that child!"

"We can't trust her to hold up her end."

Clem shakes her head, "What other choice do we have? Logan died trying to protect this baby." Clem turns to Jackson, "Let's get my baby back, Jackson."

Mitch turns to Jackson, still trying to talk him down, "Jackson. Think about it. Every animal in North America is gonna become part of her hybrid army. What then?"

Jackson nods, "one problem at a time, Mitch. One problem at a time."

As Jackson says this the plane smashes through the barrier and we all run for cover. Mitch taking Clem and Jamie, Abe taking Dariela, and Jackson taking me. When we run out of the way of the rubble Jackson and I hide behind a small concrete wall.

I look over to Jackson and shake my head, "you'd better know what you're doing, Oz." 


	34. Sequel

hey guys,

as I said before each season would be its own book.

Here is the link to the next book.

s/13162477/1/After-The-End


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